Distinguished volunteers received the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Environmental Hero Award that was announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2004. The award will be presented to Dr. Nikolai F. Elansky by Dr. David Hofmann, Director of NOAA’s Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) during a ceremony at the CMDL annual meeting on May 26 in Boulder, Colo.

Held in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations, the award honors NOAA volunteers for their "tireless efforts to preserve and protect our nation's environment." Dr. Nikolai Elansky was recognized for his work on the TRans-siberian Observations Into the Chemistry of the Atmosphere (TROICA) (http web link: (http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/hotitems/troicaupdate2.html), Sage 3 Ozone Loss Validation Experiment (SOLVE) (http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/solve/), and fostering collaborative research between Russia and NOAA CMDL.

“Without Dr. Elansky’s efforts, little would be known about the emissions of halocarbon gases banned by the Montreal Protocol inside Russia,” says Dr. James W. Elkins, supervisory physicist from NOAA CMDL. “He also has provided valuable assistance to the world scientific community on the emissions of other important trace gases inside Russia.” Dr. Elansky provided valuable ground truth ozone and oxides of nitrogen data during airborne stratospheric campaigns over the Arctic Regions where NOAA and NASA scientists actively participated in SOLVE.

Dr. Nikolai Filippovich Elansky, a native Russian, is chief of Atmospheric Composition Division of the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Moscow, Russia. The IAP is an organization within the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He was the co-organizer of the TROICA expeditions with Dr. Paul Crutzen, a co- recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was the chief scientist on all eight of the TROICA expeditions. He has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in English and Russian. He received his B.A. in 1970 and a Ph.D. in 1976 from Moscow State University. He became a Doctor of Science Professor at Moscow State University in 1993.

“NOAA and the world are fortunate to have such dedicated people volunteer so much of their time,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “They set a fine example for others to follow in their communities. The world needs more environmental heroes like them.”

Established in 1995 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, the Environmental Hero award is presented to individuals and organizations that volunteer their time and energy to help NOAA carry out its mission.

“On behalf of the 12,500 men and women working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I am pleased to present you with this 2004 Environmental Hero Award,” Lautenbacher wrote in a letter to the recipients. “Your dedicated efforts and outstanding accomplishments greatly benefit the environment and make our world a better place.”

There are a total of 33 winners—30 individuals and three organizations. Visit the NOAA Earth Day Web site at http://www.noaa.gov/earthday to read more about this year’s award winners.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.