Atmospheric Carbon and Oxygen Laboratory
This project aims to create an infrastructure for monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Italian man-made areas to assess the impacts of anthropogenic CO₂ emission reduction actions under the European Green Deal Plan.

The ACO-Lab infrastructure aims to examine in detail, at the local and regional scales, the causes of spatial and temporal variations in atmospheric CO₂. Italy is an European country engaged in actions to mitigate climate change. Sources of CO₂ emissions include both anthropogenic (hydrocarbon combustion, from urbanization, use of alternative energy sources, industrial and waste cycle emissions) and natural (volcanic, from soil respiration).

Currently, the evaluation of the effectiveness of actions taken to achieve CO₂ emission reduction targets between 2030 and 2050 is hampered by the lack of direct monitoring systems, in addition to global-scale models. The ACO-Lab infrastructure consists in 13 automatic stations for monitoring the concentration and isotopic composition of carbon and oxygen in atmospheric CO₂. These stations make it possible to assess the concentration and composition of the stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of atmospheric CO₂ and the main environmental parameters (temperature, pressure, relative humidity, insolation, UV radiation, precipitation, and wind direction and speed) in near-real time, with a high acquisition rate (minutes). The infrastructure makes it possible to identify and characterize sources and quantify their contribution and has unique features compared to other global networks.

The ACO-Lab infrastructure requires the creation of dedicated infrastructure for data storage and sharing following the Open Data approach in order to give visibility to the institution and encourage collaboration with the national and international scientific community.

The ACO-Lab website is a data portal aimed at sharing fluid geochemistry observations mainly acquired through INGV's automatic monitoring networks for geochemical observation of the earth system. Among the projects flowing into ACO-Lab, VulcanoHaz was developed between 2019 and 2022 and funded under an agreement between INGV and the National Department of Civil Protection. During 2024, atmospheric chemical data acquired by other monitoring infrastructures (e.g. Rete Idrogeochimica-DL50 Task 1 and 2 projects and PON Grint 2019-2024 ) will also flow into ACO-Lab .

Expected results
- identification of major climate-altering sources with particular reference to carbon dioxide (dominant sources at the local scale);
- quantification of emissions from different sources;
- monitoring of CO₂ emissions at both local (~10⁴ m) and regional (~10⁶ m) scales;
- analysis of anthropization-related effects and its evolution in time and space;
- evolution of the concentration and isotopic composition of atmospheric CO₂ in relation to land use;
- improve the knowledge on the interconnection between the carbon cycle and the water cycle, two biogeochemical cycles crucial to the survival of the biosphere on Earth;
- opening new interpretive horizons of the chemical and isotopic processes occurring in the troposphere;
- acquisition of large volumes of data (>10⁶ measurements per year) available to the scientific community for the verification and development of numerical models of atmospheric circulation (General Circulation Models or GCMs).

Side projects
VulcanoHaz (P.I. Sergio Gurrieri - [email protected]) - The VulcanoHaz project aims to monitor gas risk at Vulcano Porto, near some famous surface manifestations of volcanic/hydrothermal activity, namely the Faraglione area. This area is home to several public facilities and infrastructure that force residents and visitors to expose themselves to volcanic gas emissions, particularly CO₂. The monitoring network consists of four stations equipped with the GasNet system, which measures CO₂ flux in the soil and CO₂ concentration in the air at two heights above the ground. Environmental parameters (air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, cumulative rainfall, and wind) are also recorded at the Rojas site and can be considered as a reference for the affected area. The project was supported financially through the agreement between the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile.

Rete Idrogeochimica - DL50 (P.I. Roberto Di Martino - [email protected]) - The Rete Idrogeochimica – DL 50 (Task 2) project consists in monitoring of H₂ concentration in soil gases to enhance networks for monitoring soil CO₂ flux and atmospheric parameters in the central and southern Apennines. The network consists of four stations deployed in the Alto Tiberina Valley, and in the seismic zone of the southern Apennines (Monti Picentini). Hydrogen serves as an indicator of seismic activity due to observed anomalies in soil gases around the epicentral area, both preceding and concurrent with seismic events. All stations records some environmental parameters (i.e., air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, cumulative rainfall, soil water content, and wind). The project was supported financially through by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia.

PON Grint 2019-2024 (P.I. Antonio Caracausi - [email protected]) -