Permafrost hosts a potentially large pool of microorganisms, which is supposed to be the only life forms known to have retained viability over geological time. Thawing of the permafrost renews their physiological activity and exposes ancient life to modern ecosystems (Gilichinsky et al, 2008). The adaptation mechanisms of microorganisms, at species or population level, make them susceptible to extreme environmental conditions. The survival of microorganisms in permafrost raises the question of what constitutes the limit for microbial life (Steven et al., 2006; Wagner 2008).

Characterization of effective precipitation that occurs at ground of Antarctica region, plays a crucial rules in defining and validating global climate models and numerical weather prediction model. The observatory is designed to be set up at the Italian Antarctic station Mario Zucchelli integrating the current instrumentation for weather measurements with other instruments specific for precipitation observations. In particular, a 24-GHz vertical pointing radar, Micro Rain Radar, and an optical disdrometer, Parsivel will be integrated with the advanced weather stations, radiosoundings and the ceilometer. The synergetic use of the set of instruments allows for characterizing precipitation and studying properties of Antarctic precipitation such as dimension, shapes, fall behavior, density of particles, particles size distribution, particles terminal velocity, reflectivity factor and including some information on their vertical extent. The project is for four years, it started in July 2017 and will be active until July 2020, covering the Special Observation Period (SOP) in the Southern Hemisphere of Year of Polar Predicition (YOPP) period. APP can be provide specific measurements for precipitation occurring over the Antarctic coast at high temporal resolution, in particular specific snow products such as snow rate, snow depth and their water equivalent.

Emerging COntaminants in Antarctic Snow: sources and TRAnsport (ECO AS:TRA) Prog. PNRA18_00229 Snow samples

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.

During Austral Summer1991-92 the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS conducted marine geological and geophysical surveys over the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait. During this cruise approximately 3407 km of 30-fold multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data were collected in the Antarctic Peninsular and the Bransfield Strait between longitudes 50 and 78 degrees West, and latitudes 60 and 68 degrees South. The surveys were carried out by the research vessel OGS Explora. The digital MCS data were recorded on a SERCEL SN 358 DMX system. The source consisted of an airgun array with a total volume of 71.96 litres fired approximately every 50 meters into a 3000 m cable consisting of 120 hydrophone groups towed at an average depth of 12 m. A GPS + TRANSIT satellite receiver system was used for the navigation. Processing of the data generally followed a conventional sequence: Reformat, Trace-sum with differential NMO, Quality control, Amplitude recovery, Deconvolution, Velocity analysis, NMO corrections, Mute, Trace weighting, Stack, Mixing, Filter, Balance.