Old Air Discovered

Thanks to a hoarder who held on to a scuba diving tank for 41 years, the record of air samples from the southern hemisphere has been extended by over 8 years. A 76-year old scuba diver from Beaumaris, Australia, handed over his air tank, which he last filled in 1968 but never used, to the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research labs in Melbourne.

They said that they had the oldest air and I thought, no they haven't, I've got the oldest air, John Allport, the tank's owner said. The air archive maintained by CSIRO started in 1978, and contains samples of clean air from a station at Cape Grim, Tasmania. It's the oldest such archive in the world. Now with Allport’s tank, last used in 1970, the record has been extended further.

(via Boing Boing)