UCSB Earth Science and Marine Science students map DDT concentrations in a deep oceanic basin near Los Angeles

UCSB undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral scholars sampled deep ocean sediment during multiple sampling campaigns in San Pedro Basin last year to analyze for pesticide DDT concentrations. A recent publication <https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c08575?ref=pdf> in Environmental Science & Technology shares that DDT manufacturing waste disposal into the deep ocean left high DDT concentrations behind that still persist today — an issue that has caused substantial political interest <https://www.padilla.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Letter-to-OMB-on-DDT-research-funding-022024.pdf>. The publication also brings to light low-level radioactive wastes that were disposed of contemporaneously, a finding that has also received notable attention <https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-02-21/radioactive-waste-ocean-dumping-los-angeles-coast>.