MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT
 
Warsaw, 21 May 2008
 
Historical climate data from before 1945 until now to be forwarded 
to the Institute Meteorology and Water Management 
(21 May 2008, German Measuring Station, in Görlitz)
     
 
The archive materials include the results of meteorological observations and measurements (temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation) those were carried out in the areas which nowadays belong to Poland, but formerly were under German administration (Eastern and Western Prussia, Gdansk, Pomerania, part of the Wielkopolska Province, the Gorzów Region, Lower Silesia, and a part of the Upper Silesia). 

Pallets containing the aforementioned data will be received today by Dr.  Mieczys³aw Ostojski, Director of the Institute Meteorology and Water Management form Dr Wolfgang Kusch, President of the German National Meteorological Service. Polish Meteorological Service receives the historical data on the lending basis. 
            
The efforts made by the Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management to transfer the data were began in 1996. After nine years, the Institute gained partial access to some archives - dozens of volumes of climatology and precipitation specifications - concerning mainly the period after 1933. 

Digitalisation of the data with use of computers was begun immediately after its acquisition of the archive materials by the Institute. Digital databases were implemented by means of data transfer from their hard copies. Thanks to that, tracing of climate change in the territory of today's Poland will be possible from the beginning of the 20th Century. More than 400 thousand data records containing more than 5.3 million various values of meteorological elements were digitalised so far.