Participant ID: 7 - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-IBIMET)
	http://www.ibimet.cnr.it/ http://www.cnr.it/

Expertise and experience The Institute of Biometeorology (formerly IATA-CNR) was created at the beginning of eighties to meet the national need for a reliable research base, in agrometeorology and environmental analysis for agriculture sectors, able to supply to the Regional Agrometeorological Service, that were beginning to operate on those years, with the necessary exact knowledge. At international level many international programs started: the MAB (Man and Biosphere Program), promoted by UNESCO and other United Nations Agencies, was concerned with the increasing pressure of industrialised countries on the environment, while the CGIAR net aimed to increase food stuff production in underdeveloped countries. Since its foundation in 1980, IBIMET has maintaned three long-term objectives that are:

• the creation of suitably qualified staff
• the organization of its equipment and collateral structures
• their introduction in the national and international scientific context

The scientific strategies that have produced all the mentioned initiatives are not only still valid but have become more significant, as consequence of further recognitions resulting from international activities, such as the World Climate Conference (1990), the Conference of Rio (1992) and the following conventions on Climate, Forests, Desertification and Biodiversity. IBIMET has a long history of participation in European Research Programs, is the seat of the italian IGBP Secretariat (International Geosphere Biosphere Programme) and is one of the Specialised Centre for Agrometeorology and Remote Sensing for Area VI (Mediterranean Region). IBIMET has on-going research contracts with CGIAR, WMO (World Meteorological Organization) and ESA (European Space Agency). It is a member of NAERS (Network of Airborne Research Sckientists) and collaborates extensively with airborne programs of NOAA-ATDD (National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration, Atmopheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, USA) and of the San Diego State Univeristy. Role in this project WP2: Providing dataset out of the CARE experiment (see WP3) to interpret reagional variability of fluxes and links with remote-sensing derived vegetation indices. WP3: Conduct and analyse the results of CARE - CARBOAFRICA Regional Experiment. Ibimet will be responsible for developing and testing the aircraft facility that will be operated in Africa, for transferring the aircraft to the experimental region and to perform flux measurements as well as airborne remote sensing campaigns involving thermal, multispectral and hyperspectral data. WP4: Provide remote airborne remote sensing data of recently burned areas in the CARE study region. Principal Investigator and collaborators Franco Miglietta, Senior scientist, graduated in Agricultural Sciences, University of Firenze, Italy. PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. 1984-1998 Scientist at CNR, Firenze. 1998-present Science Director, CNR, Firenze. F.M. has been working in agricultural research since the early 80s with specialisation in crop and ecological modelling. He then developed original research in the area of the impact of climatic changes on crops and forests and he participated in number of EU projects (Cropchange, MAPLE) Within these study, he also developed sophisticated technological devices for Free Air CO2 Enrichment that have been subsequently used in a series of EU projects that were funded under the Fourth Framework Programme (BERI, Megarich, POPFACE). He has been the coordinator of the MEDEFLU Project (IV Framework Programme, Environment and Climate) and he's currently coordinating the EU-MIND project (V FP). He participates in the CarboEurope Integrated Project. He has collaborations with major national and international institutions and programmes in the area of Global Change. He the national IGBP Representative in Italy and a member of the EUFAR-SAC Commitee (European Aircraft Fleet for Environmental Research, Scientific Users' Commitee. He has specific experience with planning, execution and analysis of airborne experimental campaigns. Beniamino Gioli, scientist, graduated in Environmental Engineering and PhD in Ecology at the University of Udine. He's working at IBIMET-CNR since 1999. He has specific experience in fluid dynamic modelling and application and planning, execution and analysis of airborne experimental campaigns. He was responsible for the airborne field campaigns during the EU-RECAB experiments in several european countries and during the CERES Regional Experiment which is one of the components of CarboEurope IP. He was recently awarded by the Siena Province, in Italy, for his activity on airborne flux measurements and remote sensing applications. Alessandro Zaldei, is field assistant at IBIMET-CNR. He has significant experience with technological development and contributed substantially to the development and installation a series of technological devices (weather station, EC flux towers and FACE systems etc.) that are now operational in the field in several locations in Italy, Europe and overseas (USA, Australia, Argentina and India). Example publications