WWF European Alpine Programme participates in the opening of a new GLORIA research station in Italy
© Guido Trivellini
Maurizio Andreozzi Director of the Lombardy Meteorological Centre and Mauro Villa Director of Parco Orobie Bergamasche, participating in the inauguration of a new GLORIA research station in Italy
The GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environment 2001) project is a network of scientific research station in mountainous regions world-wide creted to measure the effects of climate change by monitoring the change in vegetation biodiversity at different altitudes (see http://www.gloria.ac.at ).The newly opened station in the Italian Alps includes state of the art research facilities and sophisticated meteorological technologies capable of recording and assessing the changes in soil temperature over time. Furthermore, a grid system has been laid out to allow botanists to monitor, describe and quantify over time, the vegetation composition and its potential migration to higher altitudes.At the opening event, participants observed field work being carried out on the highest of the alpine peaks in the area and were shown the use of the sophisticated technologies available to researchers to monitor vegetation cover, environmental temperature and humidity levels, as well as soil temperature. The scope, aim, technological sophistication and hard work involved in the project became abundantly clear to all involved. The project partners, including the WWF European Alpine Programme, who firmly support scientific research and are strongly committed to field work capable of fighting climate change, were enthusiastic in seeing the launch of this new project.