Starting today in Rovereto the Meteorology Festival, a great event now in its tenth edition, which aims to spread among children and teachers the importance of weather data for collective safety and to better predict the phenomena caused by climate change
In times of climate crisis and extreme weather events, a generic “knowing what the weather is like” is not enough. For this reason, the Meteorology Festivalhosted in Rovereto from today to Saturday, dedicates events and workshops to schools, to spread a scientific approach to weather forecasts and educate young people about responsibility in the face of extreme events.
“Keep time!” it is in fact the title chosen for the tenth edition of the event promoted byItalian Association of Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (AISAM), fromUniversity of Trento and from Rovereto Civic Museum Foundation. At the center of meetings and workshops, there will be the big issues that interest everyone: starting from climate change and adaptation to extreme phenomena, up to weather communication and the role of institutions in managing alarms.
Since its inception, this event has been conceived as an opportunity for growth” explains Giovanni Laezza, president of the Rovereto Civic Museum Foundation.
This year too, we will operate in three distinct areas. First and foremost male and female students, from elementary to high school. Then teachers as trainers. Finally, the families. Our goal is to transmit scientific content to a vast and diverse audience: a commitment that is always rewarded by great participation.
Students are protagonists in particular of two initiatives: the first involves the launch of a radiosonde for measurements in the atmosphere thanks to the Licei Lunigianesi project; the second is the involvement of various schools to digitize and archive weather data. The project on the radiosonde equipped with temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and telemetry sensors was carried out by the high schools of Aulla, Pontremoli and Villafranca Lunigiana with the University of Pisa, and will have its showcase and the fundamental moment of launch at the Meteorology Festival. Shortly before, the conference “Schools for the weather” will be held. From recovery to the launch of radiosondes into the stratosphere” in which, in addition to the students, Marina Baldi (CNR-IBE) and Stefano Gaffi, teacher coordinator of the project for the Lunigian high schools, will participate.
The probe, which is used to study the troposphere and stratosphere, aims to reach an altitude of at least 30 thousand meters in height and is equipped with transmitters to send images, collected data and GPS position to the ground in real time . The students built and implemented the software and calibration of the telemetry receivers and will analyze the data which will then be shared with the scientific community.
Equally important is the involvement of 350 students from 10 Italian high schools in the Cli-DaRe@School project, promoted by AISAM: thanks to the students, over 4,000 pages of ancient meteorological data were saved through digitalisation. A brilliant example of how the synergy between research institutes and the academic world can lead to extraordinary results.
This activity will be presented tomorrow morning, illustrating why the historical heritage of Italy’s meteorological data is vast, priceless and why the digital archive to which the schools’ activity has contributed is of fundamental importance for understanding climate change in our country .
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