Embassy Events 2003
Poles Receive NOAA Award for Their Work as "Environmental Heros"
17 June 2003The U.S. government has honored 13 Polish mariners and scientists
for their contributions to critical research on the earth's atmosphere.
Ambassador Christopher Hill presented the "Environmental Hero" awards
June 17 on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).
The mariners have been collecting trace
gas measurements from a ferry in the Baltic Sea over the past ten years
and pass the data on to the NOAA laboratories in Boulder, Colorado.
Since 1992, the NOAA Climate Monitoring & Diagnostics Laboratory
has had a cooperative project with the Morski Instytut Rybacki (Sea Fisheries Institute)
and the Stena Line in Gdynia, Poland. The team collects air samples
several times each week on regular voyages of the ferry M/V Stena
Baltica across the Baltic between Gdynia and Karlskrona, Sweden. The
samples are then sent to NOAA laboratories in Boulder to measure carbon
dioxide, hydrogen and nitrous oxide, and other gases.
NOAA
officials say the Poles' efforts have been critical in the research the
administration is conducting to protect the earth's atmosphere. The
NOAA is documenting the distribution of greenhouse gases around the
planet, which are capable of changing the climate. For more information
on the project, please see http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccgg/index.html.
In
a ceremony at the U.S. Embassy, Ambassador Hill presented
"Environmental Hero" awards to Capt. Krzysztof Romowicz, Capt. Adam
Kedziora, Capt. Darek Grzybek, Capt. Marek Czapiewski, Mieczyslaw
Miakinko, Robert Zuk, Janusz Maslanka, Piotr Kaminski, Wlodzimierz
Jarzynski, Andrzej Kalicki, Daniel Skrzypek, Konrad Socko -- all from
Gdynia. Also honored was Marianna Pastuszak, an oceanographic scientist
at the Morski Instytut Rybacki in Gdynia, who oversaw the project.
Every
year NOAA presents its "Environmental Hero" award to organizations and
individuals who volunteer their time and energy to help NOAA carry out
its mission.
 Amb. Hill (left) and Tom Conway of NOAA present Capt. Marek Czapiewski with an "Environmental Hero" award. |  Mariners, Oceanographer Marianna Pastuszak (in red) and Embassy Economic Specialist Ewa Kurhanowicz (fourth from right) pose following the awards presentation. |  Tom Conway of the NOAA explains the significance of the "Environmental Hero" awards. | |
 "Environmental Hero" Marianna Pastuszak, oceanographer with the Morski Instytut Rybacki (Sea Fisheries Institute) in Gdynia, stresses the importance of U.S.-Polish cooperation in atmospheric research | |||
