In this paper, characterization of the optical and microphysical properties of extremely fresh biomass burning aerosol is presented. This work aims to characterize, for the first time to our knowledge, freshly formed smoke particles observed only a few minutes after they were emitted from a nearby forest fire. The smoke particles were detected by combining passive (sun-photometer) and active (Raman lidar) techniques. On 14 August 2021, an EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) multi-wavelength Raman lidar and a co-located AERONET sun-photometer in Potenza, South Italy, observed an extremely fresh smoke plume. The lidar measurements, carried out from 22:27 to 02:16 UTC, revealed a thick biomass burning layer below 2.7 km. The particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm was 0.025, and lidar ratios at 355 and 532 nm were, respectively, 40 and 38 sr. The mean value of the Ångström exponent was 1.5. The derived size distribution was bimodal with a peak at 0.13 µm, an effective radius mean value of 0.15 µm, and a single scattering albedo of 0.96 at all wavelengths. The real part of the refractive index was 1.58 and the imaginary was 0.006. The AERONET measurements at 5:34 UTC confirmed the lidar measurements.

We present a multi-year study of Saharan dust intrusions on a mountainous site located in the central Mediterranean Basin regarding their aerosol optical and geometrical properties. The observations were carried out at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Metodologie per l’Analisi Ambientale (CNR-IMAA) located in Potenza (40,360N, 15,440E), Italy, from March 2010 to October 2022, using ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds and Trace Gases Research InfraStructure). A total of 101 night-time lidar measurements of dust intrusions were identified. The following properties were calculated for the periods December, January, February (DJF), March, April, May (MAM), June, July, August (JJA) and September, October, November (SON): aerosol layer center of mass altitude, particle lidar ratio at 355 and 532 nm, particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm and backscattering Ångström exponent at 532–1064 nm. Both geometrical and optical aerosol properties vary considerably with the seasons. During SON and DJF, air masses transporting dust travel at lower altitudes, and become contaminated with local continental particles. In MAM and JJA, dust is also likely to travel at higher altitudes and rarely mix with other aerosol types. As a result, aerosols are larger in size and irregular in shape during the warm months. The ratio of the lidar ratios at 355 and 532 nm is 1.11 ± 0.15 in DJF, 1.12 ± 0.07 in SON, 0.94 ± 0.12 in MAM, and 0.92 ± 0.08 in JJA. The seasonal radiative effect estimated using the Fu–Liou–Gu (FLG) radiative transfer model indicates the most significant impact during the JJA period. A negative dust radiative effect is observed both at the surface (SRF) and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) in all the seasons, and this could be related to a minimal contribution from black carbon. Specifically, the SRF radiative effect estimation is −14.48 ± 1.32 W/m² in DJF, −18.00 ± 0.89 W/m² in MAM, −22.08 ± 1.36 W/m² in JJA, and −13.47 ± 1.12 W/m² in SON. Instead, radiative effect estimation at the TOA is −22.23 ± 2.06 W/m² in DJF, −38.23 ± 2.16 W/m² in MAM, −51.36 ± 3.53 W/m² in JJA, and −22.57 ± 2.11 W/m² in SON. The results highlight how the radiative effects of the particles depend on the complex relationship between the dust load, their altitude in the troposphere, and their optical properties. Accordingly, the knowledge of aerosols optical property profiles is of primary importance to understand the radiative impact of dust.

This paper describes the aerosol in situ laboratory at the CNR-IMAA (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Metodologie per l'Analisi Ambientale) Atmospheric Observatory (CIAO) in southern Italy, outlining its configuration and detailing each instrument and sampling line. CIAO has been collecting observations of atmospheric components since 2000. Initially, the activities revolved around aerosol lidar; radiosounding and cloud remote sensing observations were added over the years and made CIAO a leading atmospheric observatory in the Mediterranean region. In 2018, a significant upgrade was started to enhance the observational capability of the observatory by adding aerosol in situ instruments, with the objective to push new research boundaries for aerosol particle characterization and multi-instrument combined approaches. Here, we describe each technical implementation step for building up an extensive aerosol in situ laboratory compliant with ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace gases Research Infrastructure) standard operating procedures. Starting from scratch, the long path was initiated in 2018 with the design of the laboratory in terms of instruments, container layout, inlets, and sampling lines, as well as required time and interactions with experts in the field. Reporting on all the details regarding the final solutions implemented at CIAO, this paper will be, for new aerosol in situ laboratories, a practical guide for the implementation of the aerosol in situ observational site.

This paper describes the aerosol in-situ laboratory at CIAO (CNR IMAA Atmospheric Observatory) in South Italy, outlining its configuration and detailing each instrument and sampling lines. The CIAO observatory has been collecting observations of atmospheric components since 2000. Initially the activities revolved around aerosol lidar, later radiosounding and cloud remote sensing observations were added over the years and made CIAO a leading atmospheric observatory in the Mediterranean region. In 2018, a significant upgrade started for enhancing the observational capability by adding aerosol in-situ instruments, with the objective to push new research boundaries for aerosol characterization and multi-instrumental synergistic approaches. Here, we describe each technical implementation step for building up an extensive aerosol in-situ laboratory compliant with ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds and Trace gases Research InfraStructure) standard operating procedures. Starting from scratch, the long path initiated in 2018, with the design of the laboratory in terms of instruments, container organization, inlets and sampling lines optimizations, that required time and interactions with experts in the field. Reporting here all the details about the final solutions implemented at CIAO, this paper will be, for new aerosol in-situ laboratory, a practical guide for the implementation of the aerosol in-situ observational site.

The Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System (ITINERIS) Project coordinates a network of national nodes from 22 RIs.ITINERIS has been designed looking at synergy with the European RI framework, and it will support the participation of Italian scientists in pan-European initiatives (like ENVRI-Hub NEXT and EOSC). ITINERIS will have significant impact on national environmental research, providing scientific support to the design of actionable environmental strategies.To this end, ITINERIS will build the Italian HUB of Research Infrastructures in the environmental scientific domain providing a single and unified access point to facilities, FAIR data and related services available within the Italian RIs network through an easy-to-navigate interface.Through the ITINERIS HUB all users will have access to data and services, with a complete catalogue of data and services and a proper access management system. ITINERIS will not duplicate existing data provided by European RIs, but will make them discoverable in a unique place together with other National RI resources. Additionally, ITINERIS HUB will make accessible data resulting from specific ITINERIS project activities like campaign data and novel data products.ITINERIS will also offer a system of Virtual Research Environments (VRE), that will provide new services to address scientifically and societally relevant issues starting from an ensemble of cross-disciplinary actions on the data, information and knowledge generated by the different RIs in the different environmental subdomains.State-of-the-art applications and custom-made tools will be integrated in the HUB to respond to the needs of: collecting and preparing information on products, resources and services to be advertised in a way that users can easily discover and access them and the RIs; facilitating the management of user access requests through the automated workflows and specific features that are peculiar to the online submission and management systems.The main concept includes a GeoServer with the possibility of discovery, visualization and plotting RI data available. To be more precise, a scalable infrastructure for the provision of mapping services compliant with the standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) WMS (Web Map Service), WFS (Web Feature Service), WCS (Web Coverage Service) will be implemented. A Metadata Service will be responsible for providing OGC CSW services. It will therefore offer a data discovery service through metadata consultation, corresponding to the most common metadata profiles. A stack of support services (REST/SOAP interfaces) for queries on geographic databases will be provided.The ITINERIS HUB is candidate to become the integrated system of the Italian Environmental RIs to be connected to European initiatives like ENVRI-Hub NEXT and EOSC, fostering the ability to address current and expected environmental challenges at National level and beyond.AcknowledgementIR0000032 – ITINERIS, Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System (D.D. n. 130/2022 - CUP B53C22002150006) Funded by EU - Next Generation EU PNRR- Mission 4 “Education and Research” - Component 2: “From research to business” - Investment 3.1: “Fund for the realisation of an integrated system of research and innovation infrastructures”

Modern Environmental and Earth sciences demand seamless integration across atmospheric, marine, terrestrial, and biodiversity data, and this process is often hindered by disciplinary silos. The ENVRI-Hub addresses this challenge directly by serving as the unified Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for Europe's Environmental Research Infrastructures. It moves beyond a simple data portal to function as an integrated platform where discovery, access, and analysis converge.The hub provides researchers with a centralised gateway to discover and access FAIRified research assets, enabled for cross-disciplinary work. Crucially, it enables these assets to be leveraged in situ through any VRE using a unified machine actionable API/toolset. , in order to support data analytics in scientific workflows. VREs will allow users to compose, execute, and share reproducible analytical pipelines - from accessing Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) to running complex AI analytics. This architecture not only streamlines the scientific process but also underpins applications like environmental Virtual Laboratories and foundational work for future applications like Digital Twins.This presentation will detail the ENVRI-Hub's technical architecture for enabling VRE support. We will demonstrate, through specific scientific use cases, how its Catalogue of Services and AI-powered Knowledge Base work synergistically to reduce data friction. The contribution will highlight how this integrated environment supports workflow builders in creating robust, cross-domain analyses, thereby accelerating scientific results and advancing collaborative, data-driven Environmental and Earth science.