Alpe Lusia - San Pellegrino

ARCTIC AIR IN ITALY

Natura ON THE COL MARGHERITA JUST AS IN NY-ÅLESUND
ON THE COL MARGHERITA JUST AS IN NY-ÅLESUND

You can breathe the air of the Arctic Circle without leaving Italy. This happens on the Col Margherita, in the San Pellegrino Ski Area, between Trentino and Veneto. The data from the CNR [Italy’s National Research Council] station at the summit, 2,520 metres high, attest to this. Here, in one of the most charming balconies in the Alpine arch, ozone levels are documented as a little less than those in Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard Island, Norway), the northernmost inhabited country in the world, as measured by the Zeppelin Station’s weather instruments. In fact, above Falcade and the San Pellegrino Pass, the air is as clean as it is in Ny-Ålesund, where the CNR’s Italia Dirigible base is located.

The Col Margherita observatory is the CNR’s outpost for studying the chemical composition of the atmospheric aerosols in the Eastern Alps.  Italy’s National Research Council (CNR) is Italy’s main research agency: one of its tasks is studying global chemical contamination, the transport and transfer mechanisms for pollutants in various environments, the transformation processes and cycles for chemical substances in the environment, the reconstruction of past and recent climate phenomena and the development of new technologies for the environmental sciences.

Two places with a landscape without equals in the world, one facing the Greenland Sea, the other on some of the most imposing peaks in the Dolomites, from the southern wall of the Marmolada to the Pale di San Martino. See the midnight sun, the aurora borealis, the year-round glaciers and enchanting fjords in the world’s northernmost point, along with mountain peaks, rock walls and sunny paths through the Col Margherita.

The inhabited lands furthest north on planet Earth, in the Svalbard archipelago, record ozone levels of 100 µg per cubic metre, while in the Col Margherita the highest eight-hour value is 99.8 µg per cubic metre.

Note
There are many things to do in summer, starting with the excursions you can see on the website www.passosanpellegrino.it
For fans of electric bicycles, InAlto – the new mountain lodge located near the station uphill from the cable car – makes available two recharging columns. Interestingly, and accessible with a short walk, the Col Margherita Park near the CNR station contains an interactive rudder that lets you recognize the shape of the peaks of the Dolomites rising all around you.

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