Notable Antarctic expeditions.
The prospect of exploring the great, inhospitable, white wilderness at the end of the Earth has long fired the imagination of anyone with an adventurous spirit, and attempts to tame Antarctica have led to some of the most enduring tales of survival and tragedy in the history of human endeavour. Among the greatest heroes of the ice ring names such as Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott and Mawson – individuals from another era when courage, ingenuity, national pride, duty to country and leadership forged values that continue to inspire modern polar explorers today.
Madrid Protocol), which entered into force in 1998. It protects Antarctica as a natural reserve and prohibits all exploitation of mineral resources indefinitely. Hawke later commented that signing the protocol was one of the proudest achievements of his life.
The Madrid Protocol manages environmental impacts in Antarctica, and increasingly this applies to not just scientists and governments, but also tourists as they pursue their own journeys of exploration.
MODERN ANTARCTIC TOURISM began with Swedish-American Lars-Eric Lindblad in 1966, when he chartered an Argentine naval vessel for the first voyage to the Antarctic mainland with fare-paying passengers. In 1969 he launched the purpose-built Lindblad Explorer and a new era of nature-based tourism on the continent began.
Interest in Antarctic tourism has grown and is now controlled by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), an organisation with 114 members. While there are no limits on the total number of tourists that can visit Antarctica per season, each of the popular landing sites has its own set of management controls set by IAATO. At each site, a maximum of 100 tourists may land at one time. Daily limits apply per site for the number of larger ships (with up to 500 passengers) allowed to land, and also the number of smaller ships (with fewer than 200 passengers). Access to landing sites is hotly contested, with companies reserving sites through an online scheduling system in June each year.
Before COVID-19 travel restrictions, IAATO had predicted that 2019-20 would be Antarctica’s busiest tourist season ever. In 2018–19, a record 44,600 people had landed on the continent, and ten thousand more passed through on cruise ships with a capacity greater than 500 passengers, meaning they were not permitted to land. A handful of tourists arrived by air or small yachts, but most arrived on board smaller cruise ships.
I was one of them. Like many others, I was drawn south to see the majestic icebergs, waddling penguins, and tread the icy realm for myself. Melting ice and global warming gave my visit a sense of urgency.
MY OWN EXPLORATION OF Antarctica commenced in late February, straddling the period when the COVID-19 crisis flipped the travel industry on its head. When I embarked in Chile, there had only been one case of the virus recorded in South America, and none in Antarctica. After a life-changing 18-day Antarctic experience, my symptom-free ship, the Roald Amundsen, owned by Hurtigruten, was turned away from port on the planned day of disembarkation. Eventually, I got off in the Falkland Islands and made it home to Australia. By then the world had shifted and now Antarctic tourism is temporarily uncertain.
The pause of tourism to Antarctica may also have a detrimental impact on scientific research. Many cruise companies provide free passage for scientists, and during my trip the Roald Amundsen hosted three whale researchers.
Lead researcher Professor Ari Friedlaender, from the University of California Santa Cruz and the California Ocean Alliance, explained the benefits of this arrangement. “There’s no question this is a great advantage to the advancement of science,” he said. “Some researchers have used cruises to count penguins for the last 30 to 40 years, and that’s been incredibly
successful. As whale research techniques progress, we may see similar benefits.”
I watched Ari’s team in the ship’s tender sampling whale skin through painless biopsies for pollution analysis, and I attended their informal talks. The Roald Amundsen spreads the science message in other ways too. During my expedition, guests attended countless lectures from the Hurtigruten science and history teams and analysed live plankton under microscopes. I participated in a NASA cloud project, a seabird survey and a whale photography identification project.
The loss of tourism may be leaving a temporar y gap in research opportunities. However, when the industr y bounces back, it is likely to be greener than ever. The Roald Amundsen is the first polar expedition ship to incorporate a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system, with a battery storage capacity that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 20 per cent. Engine heat is recycled to the cabins and water heaters. Kitchen waste and sewage are fed to the ship’s bio-digesters where enzymes reduce waste to sludge.
Hurtigruten carefully controls biosecurity too. To prevent the introduction of plants and diseases, passengers wear rubber boots ashore and walk through a carwash-like scrubbing system after every landing. Hurtigruten has greener intentions still, ultimately planning to run ships on biofuel.
IA A TO CONTINUALLY reviews the sustainability of Antarctic visitation. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) facilitates international science in Antarctica and is working together with IAATO to develop a systematic conservation plan for the most heavily visited area: the Antarctic Peninsula. Among other objectives, the project will enable decision-makers to determine where visitor numbers to Antarctic sites could be limited, should that be deemed necessary.
Dr Steven Chown, president of the SCAR and professor of biological sciences at Monash University, gives an example of a series of questions concerning tourist visitation to penguin colonies that might be answered by the study. “What does it mean for their population dynamics? Do they move sites? What does it mean if their populations go down? How do we separate that from the impacts of a rapidly changing climate on the peninsula?”
The COVID-19 crisis is affecting more than just tourism and citizen science in Antarctica, with national science programs also suffering. Steven hopes that, along with protecting the community, governments will continue to fund science.
“In times of crisis, you’re really going to need experts who know what they’re doing,” he says. “Climate change won’t vanish just because we have a pandemic.”
Steven acknowledges that belts will need to be tightened. “But I would say that understanding what happens with Antarctica’s ice sheets is such a pressing question that the world cannot turn away from it.”
IN THE FUTURE, after COVID-19, Antarctica may be explored for reasons beyond science and tourism. The Madrid Protocol may one day be revised and resource extraction reconsidered. Countries may seek to establish land claims and commence developments in Antarctica.
Steven notes that interest in upgrading and building new scientific stations is on the rise, for reasons that are not always clear. “Antarctica, like everywhere else, is a geopolitical space,” he says. “As the world fills up, Antarctica is not being overlooked.”
For now, COVID-19 sees Antarctica resting quietly, almost devoid of humans. Seals snooze, penguins caw and whales breach. Perhaps for this blip in time, Antarctica appears as it did to Bellingshausen 200 years ago: a harsh, frozen, and starkly beautiful continent, waiting for its explorers.
To prevent introduced plants or diseases, passengers wear rubber boots ashore and walk through a scrubbing system.