This article is devoted to the assessment of trends of atmospheric air pollution and atmospheric impacts on the environment in the oases of the Thala Hills, Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Estimates of annual emissions of SO2, nitrogen oxides (NOx), inhalable particulate matter with a diameter of ≤ 10 μm (PM10) and CO and their dynamics over 56 years of Thala Hills exploration are given, as well as levels of surface air concentrations of SO2, NOx, PM10 and PM10 atmospheric depositions using air dispersion modelling. It is shown, in particular, that average annual emissions of NOx, PM10 and CO peaked in the early 1990s and have decreased 30.9 times by now. Sulphur dioxide emissions were highest in the late 1960s–late 1970s and decreased 270 times since then. Results of comparisons of modelled air concentrations and depositions with the available data on the measurement of surface air pollutant concentrations and atmospheric depositions are presented. Sources of uncertainties in the estimates of emissions, ground-level concentrations and depositions are described. Proposed approaches can be used to assess the cumulative impacts of ongoing and planned activities on atmospheric air and on other components of the environment through assessing the atmospheric air in the Antarctic Treaty area.

Knowledge of the biodiversity of the Thala Hills oasis (Enderby Land, East Antarctica) is very limited. Here, we integrate all information available since 1962, when the Russian ‘Molodyozhnaya’ station was established in the western part of the oasis. The published data on local eukaryote diversity (lichens, embryophytes, metazoans) include records of 90 species. Since 2008, Belarusian Antarctic Expedition researchers have worked in the eastern part of the oasis, accessible from the Belarusian station ‘Vechernyaya Mount'. This research revealed 95 species, including 44 species not recorded in the earlier published literature. The level of available information is uneven across major taxa. Lichens are the better-known group, with 51 species recorded in total, including 13 species recently recorded for the first time in the oasis. New records were also obtained for rotifers. Thala Hills biodiversity is consistent with wider patterns of Antarctic biogeography, with a high proportion of regionally endemic species (especially metazoans), the occurrence of both endemic and bipolar species of lichens and generally low numbers of cosmopolitan species (largely limited to aquatic rotifers, with the caveat that up-to-date taxonomic studies are required). The lack of data on marine macrobenthos, soil nematodes and terrestrial rotifers emphasizes the need for studies focusing on these groups.