Horizon 2020

The IMAA position in the international programs furtherly increased in 2019 thanks to the successful participation in Horizon 2020 calls where IMAA researchers have experienced scientific responsibility as well as played coordination roles. It was recently granted a new project within H2020, increasing the portfolio of the IMAA projects up to 11 (ACTRIS-IMP, e-SHAPE; CORDINET; GAIA-CLIM; ACTRIS-2; ACTRIS PPP, ENVRIPLUS; ENVRI-FAIR; ATHENA; ECARS; EUNADICS) and 2 projects under the COSME programme. Besides those, the BRAINCITIES project was approved within the “EU Researchers’ Night” call and recognized as Associated Event by the European Commission.

European Research Area for Climate Services (ERA4CS) and Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)

IMAA has reinforced its participation in the European Research Area for Climate Services (ERA4CS), by coordinating two projects: SERV_FORFIRE e DustClim. In the framework of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), since 2017, IMAA has been coordinating a service for the development of products related to the Access to Observations from Baseline and Reference Networks, which is at its second phase of the contract. Recently, IMAA has started the coordination of the CAMS21b, a pilot project aiming to provide to CAMS (Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service) ACTRIS data related to aerosol vertical profiles measured by 9 stations ACTRIS/EARLINET at ECMWF. Besides these projects, IMAA, through the participation in TeRN Consortium, is also involved in Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS), by participating in two activities aiming to promote the use and uptake of Copernicus data and information by users (intermediate and end-users).

European Space Agency and EUMETSAT

With ESA, IMAA has recently concluded the project ARTEK “Satellite Enabled Services for Preservation and Valorisation of Cultural Heritage” and is playing the role of contractor of several services for Earth Observation, such as EC-ACTS “Earlinet and Cloudnet - Aerosol and Clouds Teams for Sentinel-5P Validation (ESA-ESTEC ID28659), Wrad “Characterization of W-band propagation channel through ground-based observations”. IMAA has recently started a new project funded by EUMETSAT, the ComboCloud “Combined MWS and IASI-NG Soundings for Cloud Properties” and carried out the activities related to the contract APPLES “Applicability of Langley method for EPS-SG EIRP measurement at Svalbard”.

Interregional and international cooperation

IMAA has played the role of Lead Partner of PrioritEE “Prioritise energy efficiency (EE) measures in public buildings: a decision support tool for regional and local public authorities”, a modular project aimed at fostering low-carbon strategies and energy efficiency in specific MED territories, recently closed. In the framework of the COST actions, IMAA has recently started a new action, COST PROBE related to the study of the atmospheric boundary layer. The IMAA participation goes ahead in the COST action “In Dust” addressed to establish a network on airborne dust. Besides these actions, IMAA participates in the JP EERA Smart Cities, in the Thematic Working Groups TWG2 Urban Environmental Sustainability and Resilience and TWG4 Urban Governance and Participation of the JPI UERA.

IMAA has also promoted activities and bilateral projects of international cooperation with scientific institutions from European countries (e.g. Portugal, Polonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic) and extra-EU countries (China, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Egypt, etc.) to favour the mobility of the personnel and the realization of joint research laboratories.