Thai scientists discover fossil fuel pollution in Antarctica's soil

[snoop1130]

 

Scientists from Thailand have found signs of fossil fuel pollution in Antarctica's soil. The discovery, made at the Thai Synchrotron National Lab, used state-of-the-art technology to examine soil samples from five areas across King George Island. Siwatt Pongpiachan, the head of the research team, explained their technique could differentiate between organic and non-organic substances in the soil.

 

According to their findings, up to 44% of the soil is made up of organic compounds from fossil fuels, alongside minor traces of machinery smoke. In contrast, only around a quarter of the soil is made up of compounds from penguin waste and decomposed plants like lichen, ferns, and moss.

 

The scientists also found the highest pollution levels in human-populated areas such as research centres and airports. Siwatt hopes that these discoveries will stress the importance of measures to limit fossil-fuel activities to keep the island's environment free from pollution.

 

Siwatt's team is part of a group conducting annual scientific studies of Antarctica under the Chinese National Antarctic Research Expeditions (CHINARE). Siwatt was also involved in CHINARE's 2016 expedition examining the impacts of climate change on Antarctica.

 

Antarctica, the world's fifth largest continent, is considered a global treasure. The international community has committed to keeping its environment untouched, limiting human activities to research only.

 

Technology Chaoban / Photo courtesy of The Thaiger

 

-- 2024-05-03

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[Guderian]

They should've left their pickup truck at home in Thailand! lol

 

[brianthainess]

Quick dig it all up and burn it. Can we swap durian for it ?  

[connda]

Thai scientists discover snow fossil fuel pollution in Antarctica's soil

 

There!  Fixed it! 

[eisfeld]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

According to their findings, up to 44% of the soil is made up of organic compounds from fossil fuels

 

I guess nearly half of the soil didn't exist before we started burning fossil fuels or what are we supposed to learn from this? Very unclear reporting.

[NoDisplayName]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

According to their findings, up to 44% of the soil is made up of organic compounds from fossil fuels, alongside minor traces of machinery smoke.

 

Did they stake a claim?  According to their results, Antarctica holds more fossil fuel than the entire Middle East.  And with a fuel/soil percentage 4x higher than oil shale!  They gon' be rich!

 

Amazing Antarctica!

 

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Shouldn't they be working on a solution to the pollution in Thailand? 

[bobandyson]

Way to go Thailand. Next you'll be inventing the wheel.

 

Quote:

Patterson returned to the problem of his initial experiment and the contamination he had found in the blanks used for sampling. He determined, through ice-core samples from Camp Century in Greenland taken in 1964 and from Antarctica in 1965, that atmospheric lead levels had begun to increase steadily and dangerously soon after tetraethyl lead began to see widespread use in fuel, when it was discovered to reduce engine knock in internal combustion engines. Patterson subsequently identified that, along with the various other uses of lead in manufacturing, as the cause of the contamination of his samples. Because of the significant public-health implications of his findings, he devoted the rest of his life to removing as much introduced lead from the environment as possible.^[8]

UnQuote.

 

Above from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Cameron_Patterson

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, Guderian said:

They should've left their pickup truck at home in Thailand! lol

 

Exactly what I was thinking..... 

[mikebell]

Meanwhile, in Chiang Mai, deaths from Respiratory diseases out number daily fatalities on the road.

[stoner]

4 minutes ago, mikebell said:

Meanwhile, in Chiang Mai, deaths from Respiratory diseases out number daily fatalities on the road.

 

scary... to think it's just the start of what's coming for respiratory disease in thailand. 

[Srikcir]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

According to their findings, up to 44% of the soil is made up of organic compounds from fossil fuels, alongside minor traces of machinery smoke. In contrast, only around a quarter of the soil is made up of compounds from penguin waste and decomposed plants like lichen, ferns, and moss.

So they found from sampling a low level of organics that produce low amounts of fossil fuels. But in contrast found instead  higher levels of organics in other samplings that would produce higher amounts of fossil fuels. So maybe the first sampling is an outlier?

[JimHuaHin]

Nice article heading - which is technically correct.

 

But, unfortunately, the Thai scientists are not the first scientists to "discover" fossil fuel pollution in Antarctica's soil, Australian scientists based in Antarctica did so several decades ago last century!!!

[klauskunkel]

Quote

Thai scientists discover fossil fuel pollution in Antarctica's soil

Once 7-Eleven gets there, guess what...

[DLock]

Thai scientists discover fossil fuel pollution in Antarctica's soil

 

...and yet, they can't discover pollution on their their own beaches...

 

 

[proton]

Why is he waving the flag?