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On the 9th of December last, at the “Italy” pavilion, Brigadier General Luca Baione, Head of the General Office for Military Aviation and Meteorology and Permanent Representative of Italy to the’World Meteorological Organization (WMO – World Meteorological Organization) coordinated a presentation entitled “Education & Training in Meteorology and Climatology”to illustrate to the international community the education, training and specialisation offer that the “Italy System” provides in the sectors of meteorology and climatology.
Together with the Meteorological Service of the Air Force, representing Italy, many other centres of excellence in the fields of education, specialisation and training took part, such as the CNR Institute of Bioeconomy in Florence, already certified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a Regional Training Centre; the University of L'Aquila, which offers a Master's degree course designed and managed jointly with the Sapienza University of Rome; the Centre for the Telesensing of the Environment and Model Prediction of Severe Events (CETEMPS) in L'Aquila; the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, and the Hydrology Satellite Application Facility (H-SAF) consortium, the largest of EUMETESAT, led by the Italian Air Force with the essential participation of the Civil Protection Department, which provides the consortium's Project Manager. The training provision – ranging from short courses for specific needs of sector operators to Master's degrees – covers all areas of interest, from traditional to space meteorology; from the use of tools for observation and data processing to aeronautical meteorology; from atmospheric monitoring for the study of climate change to innovative courses of study on the ethics of climate change. The certificates issued at the end of the courses, conducted in English and French, comply with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) protocols and are therefore intended for international participants.
In addition to providing the national meteorological service, the Italian Air Force provides the weather support for all the country's security and defence activities, as well as to all international cooperation missions in which Italy is involved, providing “weather and climate” services in the various areas of the world where national contingents are deployed. Furthermore, the Italian Air Force Meteorological Service contributes to the study of climate change through its atmospheric monitoring stations at Monte Cimone (Modena) and Vigna di Valle (Rome), which are globally recognised centres of excellence, and finally provides its indispensable contribution to the Antarctic Campaign, now in its 39th Expedition.
