Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, The National Research Council of Italy, is the largest public research performing organization in Italy, reporting directly to the Ministry of the Education, University and Research. Its duty is to carry out, promote, spread, transfer and improve research activities in the main sectors of knowledge growth and of its applications for the scientific, technological, economic and social development. It is organized in seven Departments coordinating the activities of more than 100 Institutes in the main fields of knowledge, from life sciences to engineering, from earth system science to humanities, and managing the research infrastructures. The CNR Department of Earth System Science and Environmental Technologies (CNR-DTA, www.dta.cnr.it) is one of them. Its mission is to support and coordinate the research activities carried out by its 13 associated Institutes dealing with environmental sciences, including climate change, and the development of innovative monitoring technologies. The activities of the Department of Earth System Science and Environmental Technologies (DTA) are carried out by a staff of approximately 1100 people supported by approximately other 800 collaborators in the research area.

In the consortium two institutes of CNR - DTA are involved: IMAA and ISAC.

The Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) research activities involve more than 100 researchers and make use of laboratories and facilities of international relevance in the field of the Earth Observation. The IMAA scientific mission is the study of the atmosphere and of the Earth’s surface by using remote sensing techniques, environmental and geophysical monitoring, the evaluation of the impacts of the anthropogenic activities system and the implementation of optimising models to assess the best allocation of resources.

The Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) employs over 200 staff members to conducts pure and applied research on atmospheric sciences and the climate system and to produce results directly transferable to the society also beyond the national borders. The headquarters is located in Bologna, and other six sections and units are located around the country: Roma, Lecce, Lamezia Terme, Cagliari, Padova and Torino. ISAC is organized into eight research divisions: Climate dynamics and variability - DIVAC; Studies and modeling of dynamic and turbulent processes in the atmosphere - MODAT; Clouds and Precipitation Physics - CAPE; Sources, transformation and deposition of anthroPgenic and natural compounds and air quality-climate interactions - STOPPER; Physical Observations and Modelling for a Healthy Atmosphere - POEMHA; Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem studies – GOS; Natural, environmental and anthropic hazards of cultural heritage – RICH; Climate hotspots: atmospheric observations and technological development – HOTSPOT and a technical service structure that are integrated by seven atmospheric and climate observatories.