Alpi Giulie Meteo-Lab
Julian Alps Meteo-Lab
List of montoring sites
The Alpine-Adriatic Meteorological Society (A-AMS), in collaboration with organizations and institutions operating in the Alpe-Adria region, has conceived the " Julian Alps Meteo-Lab " project aiming to deepen the scientific knowledge of this particular sector of the Alps. For this reason, A-AMS favors and implements studies and researches related to the meteorological, climate, paleoclimate, and cryosphere of this area.
The Julian Alps and Prealps, which part of the territory falls within the Julian Prealps Natural Park (Italy) (Unesco MAB reserve in 2019), and in the Triglavski Narodni Park (Slovenia), represent the Alpine geographical area with the highest mean annual precipitation. Even the intensity of individual rain or snow events frequently has a magnitude much higher than the average of severe weather events occurring at the European level.
Furthermore, in the Julian Alps there are numerous small glacial bodies still active at much lower altitudes than the rest of the Alps. This is due to two factors: i) the Alpine temperature gradient from west to east which sees the isotherms lowering with the same latitude; ii) the high winter snowfall which, combined with the morphology of the mountains, channel frequent avalanches into the accumulation basins.
In 2012, the then FVG Meteorological Union later transformed into SMA-A in 2020, installed the automatic high altitude weather station on Mount Canin near the remnants of the eastern glacier at 2203 m above sea level. During the summer of 2021, the first permanent weather station in Sella Nevea was activated, initially equipped with sensors for air temperature, relative humidity, and a heated rain gauge. The station is also equipped with a manual snow gauge and webcam.
These observation sites, together with others already planned for the future, will be put online for systematic monitoring of the meteorological and climatic conditions of the area, with particular attention to the dissemination of data to the public, as well as from a scientific point of view, but also looking at the development of tourism and the economy of the area. Furthermore, the Julian Alps Meteo-Lab was also created with an educational purpose for the promotion of courses, seminars, summer schools, and training events to bring enthusiasts and non-meteorologists closer to the scientific activities connected to it.
Project promoters and patrons, in addition to SMA-A :
• Natural Park Authority of the Julian Prealps
• Municipality of Chiusaforte
• FVG-Mountain Tourism
• Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR)
• Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR)
Scientific managers of Alpi Giulie Meteo-Lab
• Alpine-Adriatic Meteorological Society
• Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR)