Tourists’ Non-Compliant Behaviours in Antarctica: An Assessment of Adherence to Pro-Environmental Guidelines

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Read IV ◽  
Susan L. Slocum ◽  
Margaret J. Daniels ◽  
Brenda P. Wiggins
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
International Association ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Knowledge Gap ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
The Status ◽  
Environmental Guidelines ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

Research on compliance of tourists to guidelines in Antarctica has been limited. This investigation explores if the current reporting methods sufficiently provide an accurate measure of tourists’ non-compliance. Specifically, the study addresses the compliance knowledge gap regarding Antarctic tourist behaviours by documenting instances of non-compliance with the General Guidelines for Visitors to the Antarctic (GGVA) to determine if the Antarctic Treaty Inspection Program (ATIP) and industry reports accurately reflect the frequency of non-compliance in the Antarctic. Conducted in-situ at four landing sites along the Antarctic Peninsula, documented instances of non-compliance, occur at a frequency of 1.63 instances per minute ashore. Based on available data from the ATIP and the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, this frequency of non-compliance challenges the status-quo and implies that further investigation is necessary.

Developing an Iranian Antarctic Science Roadmap: A Legal and Policy Outlook

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 435-454
Author(s):  
Zia E. Madani ◽  
Julia Jabour
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Research ◽  
Strategic Plan ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Status ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Preparatory Work ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

The Antarctic offers unique opportunities to scientists in many disciplines for improving understanding of regional and global conditions. The governing Antarctic Treaty has 53 State Parties, many of which do not have geographical proximity to the continent. However, the importance of various disciplines of science and many other factors, urge them to participate in the Antarctic scientific activities. Therefore, it is not surprising that Iran is considering participation in Antarctic scientific research, and it has now set processes in motion to join these states in their endeavour to undertake research in Antarctica and contribute to its governance. Iran will develop a strategic plan prior to the commencement of its Antarctic activities, outlining its vision and objectives of an Antarctic program, as well as the financial and logistical implications, and is currently undertaking preparatory work that will culminate in the drafting of an Antarctic strategic plan. In doing so, the authors examined a number of factors including ones that could be identified in Antarctic law and policy as influencing the status and development of the existing Antarctic regime, the recent Antarctic Treaty States’ accession processes and strategies, the express or implied motivations for States to join the Antarctic Treaty, and generally the Antarctic Treaty System, all of which can be reached based on the aforementioned examination that can be incorporated in an Iranian Antarctic science roadmap.

Estimating population status under conditions of uncertainty: the Ross seal in East Antarctica

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin J. Southwell ◽  
Charles G.M. Paxton ◽  
David L. Borchers ◽  
Peter L. Boveng ◽  
Erling S. Nordøy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Design ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Population Status ◽  
Pack Ice ◽  
The Status ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Survey Design And Analysis ◽  
The Many ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is the least studied of the Antarctic ice-breeding phocids. In particular, estimating the population status of the Ross seal has proved extremely difficult. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty currently designates the Ross seal as a ‘Specially Protected Species’, contrasting with the IUCN's classification of ‘Least Concern’. As part of a review of the Ross seal's classification under the Protocol, a survey was undertaken in 1999/2000 to estimate the status of the Ross seal population in the pack ice off East Antarctica between 64–150°E. Shipboard and aerial sighting surveys were carried out along 9476 km of transect to estimate the density of Ross seals hauled out on the ice, and satellite dive recorders deployed on a sample of Ross seals to estimate the proportion of time spent on the ice. The survey design and analysis addressed the many sources of uncertainty in estimating the abundance of this species in an effort to provide a range of best and plausible estimates. Best estimates of abundance in the survey region ranged from 41 300–55 900 seals. Limits on plausible estimates ranged from 20 500 (lower 2.5 percentile) to 226 600 (upper 97.5 percentile).

Potential for bioremediation of hydrocarbon polluted soils in the Maritime Antarctic

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.P. Luz ◽  
E.M.P. Ciapina ◽  
R.C. Gamba ◽  
M.S. Lauretto ◽  
E.W.C. Farias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Petroleum Hydrocarbons ◽  
South Shetland Islands ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Polluted Soils ◽  
Bacterial Populations ◽  
Soil Microcosms ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

Human activity in the Antarctic requires the use of petroleum hydrocarbons as the main energy source for a variety of operations. In the current study, in situ soil microcosms were constructed in the proximity of the Brazilian Antarctic Station Comandante Ferraz, King George Island, South Shetland Islands, to analyse the effect of oil amendment on the indigenous bacterial community in contaminated and uncontaminated sites to assess the potential for bioremediation. Microcosms were sampled for heterotrophic and hydrocarbon-degrader bacterial counts, pH, temperature, moisture, nutrient levels and petroleum hydrocarbons. Total organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents were generally low in the Antarctic cryosols. According to statistical analysis based on Colony Forming Unit numbers, significant bacterial populations were present in all microcosms, with larger numbers observed in oil amended than in non-amended soils. Aliphatic and aromatic fractions of diesel fuel were detected in the soil microcosms, and significant quantities were removed during the experiment. These results strongly suggest that the cold-adapted bacterial community present in soils around the Brazilian Antarctic station has the potential to adapt and utilize the oil as a carbon source. This knowledge can contribute both to bioremediation technology and the goals of the the Antarctic Treaty which prohibits the introduction of foreign organisms into the region.

scholarly journals In-situ aircraft observations of ice concentrations within clouds over the Antarctic Peninsula and Larsen Ice Shelf

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 17295-17345
Author(s):  
D. P. Grosvenor ◽  
T. W. Choularton ◽  
T. Lachlan-Cope ◽  
M. W. Gallagher ◽  
J. Crosier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Particle Production ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Ice Crystal ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Aircraft Observations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Larsen Ice Shelf

Abstract. In-situ aircraft observations of ice crystal concentrations in Antarctic clouds are presented for the first time. Orographic, layer and wave clouds around the Antarctic Peninsula and Larsen Ice shelf regions were penetrated by the British Antarctic Survey's Twin Otter Aircraft, which was equipped with modern cloud physics probes. The clouds studied were mostly in the free troposphere and hence ice crystals blown from the surface are unlikely to have been a major source for the ice phase. The temperature range covered by the experiments was 0 to −21°C. The clouds were found to contain supercooled liquid water in most regions and at heterogeneous ice formation temperatures ice crystal concentrations (60 s averages) were often less than 0.07 l−1, although values up to 0.22 l−1 were observed. Estimates of observed aerosol concentrations were used as input into the DeMott et al., 2010 ice nuclei (IN) parameterisation. The observed ice crystal number concentrations were generally in broad agreement with the IN predictions, although on the whole the predicted values were higher. Possible reasons for this are discussed and include the lack of IN observations in this region with which to characterise the parameterisation, and/or problems in relating ice concentration measurements to IN concentrations. Other IN parameterisations significantly overestimated the number of ice particles. Generally ice particle concentrations were much lower than found in clouds in middle latitudes for a given temperature. Higher ice crystal concentrations were sometimes observed at temperatures warmer than −9 °C, with values of several per litre reached. These were attributable to secondary ice particle production by the Hallett Mossop process. Even in this temperature range it was observed that there were regions with little or no ice that were dominated by supercooled liquid water. It is likely that in some cases this was due to a lack of seeding ice crystals to act as rimers to initiate secondary ice particle production. This highlights the complicated nature of this process and indicates that the accurate representation of it in global models is likely to represent a challenge. However, the contrast between Hallett Mossop zone ice concentrations and the fairly low concentrations of heterogeneously nucleated ice suggests that the Hallet Mossop process has the potential to be very important in remote, pristine regions such as around the Antarctic coast.

Spatial patterns of tour ship traffic in the Antarctic Peninsula region

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.J. Lynch ◽  
K. Crosbie ◽  
W.F. Fagan ◽  
R. Naveen
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Theory Analysis ◽  
Ship Traffic ◽  
Marine Traffic ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Tourism Activity ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Impact

AbstractCommercial, shipborne tourism along the Antarctic Peninsula grew exponentially between 1989–90 and 2007–08, raising concern about the impact such activity may have on the environment of the region. Previous analyses of Antarctic tourism have focused narrowly on patterns of visitation and potential impacts at terrestrial landing sites. Here, using 19 years of passenger landing statistics and five years of reconstructed ship itineraries, we explore patterns of tourism activities in the Antarctic Peninsula region using a spatially explicit network theory analysis of ship itineraries. We find that passenger landings and marine traffic are highly concentrated at a few specific locations and that growth in tourism activity occurred disproportionally rapidly at these sites relative to growth in visitation of the Peninsula as a whole. We conclude by discussing the pros and cons of spatially concentrated tourism activity and the associated implications for ecosystem management.

scholarly journals In-situ aircraft observations of ice concentrations within clouds over the Antarctic Peninsula and Larsen Ice Shelf

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 11275-11294 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. P. Grosvenor ◽  
T. W. Choularton ◽  
T. Lachlan-Cope ◽  
M. W. Gallagher ◽  
J. Crosier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Particle Production ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Ice Crystal ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Aircraft Observations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Larsen Ice Shelf

Abstract. In-situ aircraft observations of ice crystal concentrations in Antarctic clouds are presented for the first time. Orographic, layer and wave clouds around the Antarctic Peninsula and Larsen Ice shelf regions were penetrated by the British Antarctic Survey's Twin Otter aircraft, which was equipped with modern cloud physics probes. The clouds studied were mostly in the free troposphere and hence ice crystals blown from the surface are unlikely to have been a major source for the ice phase. The temperature range covered by the experiments was 0 to −21 °C. The clouds were found to contain supercooled liquid water in most regions and at heterogeneous ice formation temperatures ice crystal concentrations (60 s averages) were often less than 0.07 l−1, although values up to 0.22 l−1 were observed. Estimates of observed aerosol concentrations were used as input into the DeMott et al. (2010) ice nuclei (IN) parameterisation. The observed ice crystal number concentrations were generally in broad agreement with the IN predictions, although on the whole the predicted values were higher. Possible reasons for this are discussed and include the lack of IN observations in this region with which to characterise the parameterisation, and/or problems in relating ice concentration measurements to IN concentrations. Other IN parameterisations significantly overestimated the number of ice particles. Generally ice particle concentrations were much lower than found in clouds in middle latitudes for a given temperature. Higher ice crystal concentrations were sometimes observed at temperatures warmer than −9 °C, with values of several per litre reached. These were attributable to secondary ice particle production by the Hallett Mossop process. Even in this temperature range it was observed that there were regions with little or no ice that were dominated by supercooled liquid water. It is likely that in some cases this was due to a lack of seeding ice crystals to act as rimers to initiate secondary ice particle production. This highlights the chaotic and spatially inhomogeneous nature of this process and indicates that the accurate representation of it in global models is likely to represent a challenge. However, the contrast between Hallett Mossop zone ice concentrations and the fairly low concentrations of heterogeneously nucleated ice suggests that the Hallet Mossop process has the potential to be very important in remote, pristine regions such as around the Antarctic coast.

“Some Sanity and Love”: The Cold War, Antarctic Treaty, and Fids’ identity, 1957–1958

Polar Record ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 334-336
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Avery
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Falkland Islands ◽  
British Government ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractIn 1942, the British government created the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) to enforce sovereignty over the Antarctic Peninsula. The small groups of men who worked for the Survey called themselves Fids. During the late 1950s when Antarctic sovereignty was being hotly debated and worked out by national governments, Fids serving at British bases criticised the British government’s use of science as a bargaining chip. Using in-house magazines written and printed at FIDS bases and oral histories, this article examines how Fids viewed Antarctic politics and how those events influenced daily life at bases on the Peninsula.

Demosponges from the sublittoral and shallow-circalittoral (<24m depth) Antarctic Peninsula with a description of four new species and notes on in situ identification characteristics

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4658 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-508
Author(s):  
CLAIRE E. GOODWIN ◽  
JADE BERMAN ◽  
KATHARINE R. HENDRY
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Scuba Diving ◽  
Sponge Species ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
The Antarctic

Specimens were collected by SCUBA diving from 22 sites along the Antarctic Peninsula, spanning latitudes from Diomedea Island (62°12.185’S) to Jenny Island (67°43.325’S). The aims of the survey were to record the sponge biodiversity of the sublittoral and shallow-circalittoral and to provide information on in situ identification features. In total 24 sponge species were recorded, ranging from 0 to 12 species per site. The most widespread species were Dendrilla antarctica (10 sites), Sphaerotylus antarcticus (11 sites); and Mycale (Oxymycale) acerata (13 sites). Four species new to science were discovered and are described here: Megaciella cardenasi sp. nov., Crella (Crella) hennequinae sp. nov., Hymedesmia (Hymedesmia) noramaloneae sp. nov., Clathria (Clathria) priestleyae sp. nov. Suberites topsenti (Burton, 1929) is reassigned to Hemimycale topsenti (Burton, 1929) comb. nov. General habitat notes are provided for the survey sites, many of which were previously unsurveyed.

The Antarctic Treaty System: What’s on the Horizon?

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 709-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Jabour
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
The Future ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Areas Of Concern ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Consensus Decision ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

Abstract Antarctic commentary is usually full of superlatives when describing 50 years of the Antarctic Treaty and the subsequent system that was developed by its Parties. Primarily this is because the Antarctic Treaty itself has lasted so long, and appears to be robust and enduring. This short paper looks at what is on the horizon for the Parties to the various instruments of the Antarctic Treaty System – the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection, and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. It identifies a number of key areas of concern that will challenge the Parties’ ability to maintain the successful status quo of today and meet the future with confidence. The future, characterised by the changing climate, will test the Parties in a number of crucial ways, including bringing into question their long-held principles of diplomacy and consensus decision-making.

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