The once pristine and pure white Antarctic snow is now becoming increasingly polluted by the dirty black carbon from the engines of tourist boats. Many tourists who travel to this area, have damaged the environment.
According to a new study in the journal Nature Communications, an international team of scientists recently investigated levels of black carbon or soot produced by burning fossil fuels at 28 sites on a 2,000-kilometre route from Antarctica's northern tip to southern Ellsworth Mountains.
Their findings showed that significantly higher levels of black carbon were found in the snow around research facilities and tourist landing sites.
The darker the color of the snow, in the end it absorbs more of the Sun's light, making it more susceptible to melting. This phenomenon is known as the albedo effect.
The changes may not be visible to the naked eye, but the gentle darkening of the snow can lead to some significant repercussions.
The team estimates that carbon black produces an extra 23 millimeters of snowmelt equivalent each summer, each visitor responsible for melting about 83 tons of snow.
"The burden of BC (black carbon) deposition varies geographically, but we estimate that early snowmelt due to tourism footprint is on the order of dozens to hundreds of tonnes per visitor," the study wrote.
In the decades gone by, Antarctica is home to little more than penguins and several scientific research posts. But the continent is experiencing an increasing amount of human activity. Some 74,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the 2019-20 season, a figure that's up 32 percent from the 2018-19 season and more than double the total a decade ago.
Most of the black carbon stores come from emissions from ships that use up fossil fuels, which is how most tourists visit Antarctica.
As per research, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has a growing fleet of 54 vessels, including six large cruise ships, and made more than 375 departures in the 2019-2020 season.
The idea of visiting Antarctica as a tourist may be tempting. The researchers argue that their findings show we need to seriously reconsider our relationship with Antarctica.
As well as encouraging a faster transition to cleaning up fuel and hybrid or electric vessels, the study authors also believe there needs to be stricter limits on the number of tourists allowed to come to Antarctica each year.
It is estimated that the black carbon footprint per tourist was actually greater a decade ago, before the ban on heavy fuel use in the area and other measures to clean up Antarctic ships. However, much remains to be done. Otherwise, the future of this coldest, windiest and driest continent on Earth will not be beautiful.