Open AccessThe thermal impact of tourism on a Svalbard glacier cave (Short Communication)
Author(s) -
Andreas Alexander
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
czech polar reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.226
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1805-0697
pISSN - 1805-0689
DOI - 10.5817/cpr2021-1-11
Subject(s) - glacier , cave , tourism , arctic , physical geography , the arctic , ice caps , geology , climatology , geography , oceanography , archaeology
Glacier cave visits are an important tourism activity on Svalbard with increasing popularity. This study investigates the thermal effect of touristic visits on the air temperature of a glacier cave on Longyearbreen, a small high-Arctic glacier. Short-term temperature perturbations of up to 1.59°C (42% local temperature increase) can be linked to human visitors. It is, however, unlikely that the local heat input from touristic visits is high enough to cause a lasting effect on the thermal regime of glacier caves and the surrounding ice.