ICOS produces high quality, standardised and open data from 180 measurement stations across 16 European countries. ICOS stations measure greenhouse gas exchanges between the atmosphere, land surface and oceans and their concentration in the air.

The ICOS Italy network consists of 25 stations: 15 dedicated to ecosystems, 5 to the ocean domain, and 5 to the atmospheric domain. In addition, ICOS Italy, together with ICOS Belgium and France, also hosts the Ecosystem Thematic Centre (ETC).

The ecosystem stations cover some of the most representative Italian environments, including different types of forests, cultivated fields, and shrublands.

The atmospheric sites are located in northern Italy, including the Alps, as well as on the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. Recently, a new station was inaugurated in the Marche region as part of the network’s expansion.

The ocean monitoring stations are located in the Adriatic Sea and the Ligurian Sea. The Italian network also includes the Integrated Observatory of Lampedusa, the only station in the entire ICOS network that simultaneously collects data across all three domains of interest: atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial ecosystems.

ICOS Italy is coordinated by the Joint Research Unit (JRU), established through the collaboration of 17 Italian institutions, including universities, research institutes, and other organizations.