Abstract
Diesel is a fuel commonly used in Antarctica to supply vessels and domestic applications on site. The increasing human activities in the continent consequently have generated high fuel demand, which in turn has increased the occurrence of oil pollution due to accidental events during refueling. A related study received growing interest as more detrimental effects have been reported on Antarctic ecosystems. By adopting the bibliometric analysis, the research on diesel pollution in Antarctica collected in the Scopus database was systematically analysed. An increment in annual publication growth from 1980 to 2019 was observed and two research clusters were illustrated with “hydrocarbons” as the core keyword. Several attempts have been conducted over the past decades to remove anthropogenic hydrocarbon from previous abandoned whaling sites as well as recent oil spill incidents. However, the remote and polar conditions of Antarctica constrained the installation and operation of clean-up infrastructure. This review also briefly encompasses the approaches from past to present on the management of fuel pollution in Antarctica and highlights the potential of phytoremediation as a new bioremediation prospect.
Highlights
Antarctica, the most remote and isolated continent on Earth, has become a popular research site due to its near-to-pristine and high energy marine ecosystem
This review on diesel pollution in Antarctica and remediation techniques was supported with bibliometric analysis as a systematic approach
Oil spill management needs to be monitored as the response time is longer in polar regions for similar remediation techniques applied in temperate regions
Summary
Antarctica, the most remote and isolated continent on Earth, has become a popular research site due to its near-to-pristine and high energy marine ecosystem. In response to the hydrocarbon pollution, the extreme nature of Antarctica severely impacts the recovery process, making natural attenuation difficult with regard to completely removing hydrocarbon without human interventions. Environmental conditions such as freezing temperature, the freeze–thaw cycle and the presence of ice cause any response to be unfavourable and logistically challenging [3,5]. The aim of this review is to conceptualise the future research trend using bibliometric analysis, as well as to fill the gap in literature on past and current remediation techniques in response to the critical polar environment of Antarctica
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