Embassy News 2007
Icelander Wins Prestigious U.S. Award for Helping Scientists Measure Carbon Emissions
U.S. Ambassador Carol van Voorst presented Oskar J. Sigurdsson, an Icelandic lighthouse keeper, with a 2007 Environmental Hero Award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at a ceremony in Reykjavik June 19. Mr. Sigurdsson is the only foreigner to be honored by NOAA for his work this year. Nine others, all Americans, were also given Environmental Hero Awards.
Minister of the Environment Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir, Magnus Jonsson, Director General of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, Hermann Gudjonsson, Director General of the Icelandic Maritime Administration and other officials also attended the ceremony. Since 1992 Mr. Sigurdsson has collected air samples at the Storhofdi Lighthouse in southwest Iceland’s Westmann Islands. NOAA, in its citation, praised the volunteer efforts of Mr. Sigurdsson, which allowed the agency to produce a 15-year time series of carbon dioxide and other trace gas measurements at the Storhofdi Lighthouse.
With the help of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the samples were shipped from the Westmann Islands to the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik. From there, the Embassy sent the samples to the GMD laboratories in Boulder for measurements of CO2, CH4, CO, H2, N2O, SF6, VOCs, and the stable isotopes of CO2. Of the nearly 600 samples collected by Mr. Sigurdsson, 98 percent met the lab's strict quality control criteria. This resulted in an outstanding record of trace gas measurements of relatively clean air coming off the Atlantic Ocean. These measurements are important because they help establish the “background” levels of these climatically important gases before the air passes over the European continent. The measurements are used by scientists at GMD and many other institutions worldwide to study the carbon cycle and global climate change.
NOAA said Mr. Sigurdsson has demonstrated extreme diligence and care in assisting in this program of global earth observations.