Susana Sousa Gomes and Fátima Araújo, C2TN Researchers, are responsible for the elementary characterization study of permafrost samples (permanently frozen soil), performed at the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-QMS) Laboratory.
The samples were collected during scientific expeditions carried out along the Antarctic Peninsula and Sub-Antarctic islands, as part of the Thawimpact Project funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).
This project, led by Prof. Gonçalo Vieira (Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território/ULisboa) and Prof. João Canário (Centro de Química Estrutural/IST), intends to evaluate the impact of frozen soil degradation on southern ecosystems.
Global warming and consequent degradation of permafrost can release contaminating elements into the surrounding environment, resulting in serious dangers for living beings. At this stage, researcher teams from C2TN and CQE assesses the origin and degree of contamination by toxic metals (e.g. Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb) in the permafrost, as well as its chemical availability to ecosystems.
To learn more about the project: https://thawimpact.weebly.com/