Restoration of legacy contaminated sites in Antarctica
Lessons from Vanda Station, McMurdo Dry Valleys
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9219673 |
|---|---|
| Authors | I Hawes (0000-0003-2471-6903, University of Waikato, corresponding author), C Howard-Williams, Clive Howard‐Williams (0000-0002-8323-6806, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research), Jenny Webster-Brown (0000-0001-9665-871X, University of Canterbury), Ceisha Poirot (Antarctica New Zealand) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polar Record (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-2474 • E-ISSN: 1475-3057 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0032247424000354 |
| OpenAlex | W4406193547 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
The Antarctic Treaty System has put in place international agreements to provide comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment. Despite this high degree of protection, human presence on the continent has resulted in environmental contamination, particularly at locations established prior to the development of the more stringent codes of conduct in recent decades. Rehabilitation of legacy contaminated sites is a priority for environmental management, and a framework for such efforts has been established. In this contribution, we re-evaluate the rehabilitation of the site of the former Vanda Station, a New Zealand outpost occupied from 1969 to 1991. We describe the design and implementation of the restoration, which included the removal of many tonnes of contaminated soils and groundwater, along with the post-action monitoring of the site. Our goal is to determine where challenges to the use of recent guidelines would have arisen. We found that while guidelines on clean-up of contaminated sites in Antarctica are valuable, challenges to implementation remain. These largely reflect a lack of understanding of the consequences of contamination on Antarctic ecosystems and the trajectory of natural rehabilitation. We present recommendations on how to address some of these challenges
Archaeology · Environmental protection · Geography · Oil spill · Environmental Science · Geology · Mercury impact and mitigation studies · Oceanography · Planetary Science and Exploration · Polar Research and Ecology
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |