National Meteorological Archive
Description
What is
The CREA National Meteorological Archive, one of the most important and valuable in the world, preserves about 850 historical series of climate data, registered in meteorological stations located throughout the national territory and in what used to be the territories of the former Italian colonies of North Africa and the Balkan Peninsula (Croatia, Slovenia, Albania and Greece).
The Archive consists of a total of about 3300 folders, containing decadic cards covering the period from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to date. Some series are even over one hundred years old!
The instrumental data constitute a scientifically valid information base to understand and study the weather and climate conditions of the past: knowing where to search for them and what type of data is available and stored is very useful information for those who study climate and climate change.
The cards, in addition to strict meteorological measurement, contain the description of intense and extreme phenomena, agrarian and chronicle notes and other curiosities worthy of particular attention, thus becoming, apart from their intrinsic scientific value, data of high historical and cultural interest.
The National Meteorological Archive has become, in the last fifteen years, an integral part of the Research Unit for Climatology and Meteorology applied to Agriculture (formerly CRA-CMA, recently incorporated into CREA - Agriculture and Environment), the last heir of that Royal Central Meteorological Office which, in 1879, began operating in the prestigious seat of the architectural complex of the Collegio Romano.
This collection has also resulted in the organization of various historical-scientific exhibitions, aimed essentially for this particular type of public, at illustrating the entire sector of the activity of the meteorological network of the former CRA-CMA, again at the Collegio Romano and on the premises of the latter's Historical Library.
In 2016 the Archive was transferred to the CREA Central Administration office, situated in Via Po 14, and is currently undergoing complex reorganization work.
There are several public and private bodies, including university and research institutions, which have shown interest in its partial or full digitalization.
Regarding this, it should be noted that, thanks to the ASTRO project, co-financed by the CARITRO Foundation, it has been possible to achieve the integration and virtual sharing of the archive series also relating to the Province of Trento.