At the Institute of Nature Management of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Head of the Laboratory of transboundary pollution, doctor of technical sciences, professor Sergei Kakareka and chief researcher, doctor of geographical sciences Tamara Kukharchik, obtained the first detailed estimates of the levels of emissions of persistent organic pollutants into the environment of Antarctica. The results are published in a reputable scientific journal.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are a group of toxic chemicals that are considered a global problem and are regulated by the Stockholm Convention on POPs. Despite its remoteness and very limited human activities, Antarctica is affected by POPs, first discovered here in the 1970s. The atmospheric transport of POPs to the polar regions, including the Antarctic, is due to the ability of their volatile fractions to undergo global fractionation along latitudinal temperature gradients; these processes are influenced by local emission sources. The study of POPs in Antarctica has a relatively long history, but there are still large gaps in knowledge about their local releases into the environment.Belarusian scientists from the Institute of Nature Management of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus estimated emissions of the main POPs entering various natural environments of the ice continent as a result of unintentional production: dioxins / furans (PCDD / F), as well as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) from the main land-based sources in Antarctica – diesel generator power plants, heating systems, mobile sources, waste incineration. Estimates are obtained for the modern period and for the late 1980s. A retrospective assessment showed that over a 30-year period in Antarctica, air emissions of PCDD/F were reduced by about 13 times, PCBs by 15 times and HCB by 57 times, primarily due to the ban on open burning of waste in accordance with the requirements of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

The conducted studies form the basis for assessing, modeling and predicting the consequences of anthropogenic input of POPs into the Antarctic environment.

*Sergey Kakareka & Tamara Kukharchyk. Inventory of unintentional POPs emission from anthropogenic sources in Antarctica // Advances in Polar Science. 2022, Vol.33, No 2, pp.156-166. Doi: 10.13679/j.advps.2021.0044