The station is located within the premises of the Joint Research Centre Ispra, at the border of the village of Ispra (5300 inhabitants). Smaller cities in the surroundings (<15 km) are Arona (14000 inhabitants, 8 km SW of the station), Stresa (5000 inhabitants, 11 km NW), Verbania (31000 inhabitants, 15 km NNW), Sesto Calende (11000 inhabitants, 9 km S). Larger cities in the further surroundings (~15-100 km) are Locarno (16000 inhabitants, 41 km NNE of the station), Bellinzona (42000 inhabitants, 53 km NE), Lugano (64000 inhabitants, 33 km NE), Varese (81000 inhabitants, 17 km E), Como (84000 inhabitants, 36 km E), Bergamo (119000 inhabitants, 83 km E), Gallarate (53000 inhabitants, 22 km SE), Busto Arsizio (83000 inhabitants, 28 km SE), Legnano (60000 inhabitants, 33 km SE), Monza (123000 inhabitants, 55 km SE), Milano (1346000 inhabitants, 59 km SE), Pavia (73000 inhabitants, 81 km SE), Vigevano (63000 inhabitants, 57 km SSE), Novara (104000 inhabitants, 40 km S), Vercelli (47000 inhabitants, 55 km SSW), Alessandria (94000 inhabitants, 99 km S), Biella (45000 inhabitants, 51 km SW, Torino (890000 inhabitants, 109 km SW).
There are two cement factories: (1) COLACEM S.P.A., Caravate, reported CO2 emissions (E-PRTR): 544 kt CO2/yr (2014); 8.4 km NNE of the station; HOLCIM SPA, Comabbio, reported CO2 emissions (E-PRTR): 584 kt CO2/yr (2014); 5.1 km SE of the station.
Close to the stations there are some agricultural activities (horses, cows), which can impact the CH4 measurements at the station in case of stagnant weather conditions (with wind speeds < ~1 m/s). The CH4 measurements at the station (since 12/2016) and simultaneous measurements at ~1km distance showed that these events can be filtered out (poster presented at ICOS MSA Lund, 14-16 March 2017).
