Permanent Link:

https://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0069721/00001

Material Information

Title:

Environmental control for determining human impact and permanent visitor capacity in a potential show cave before tourist use

Series Title:

Environmental Conservation

Creator:

Calaforra, J.M.
Fernández-Cortés, A.
Sánchez-Martos, F.
Gisbert, J.
Pulido-Bosch, A.

Publication Date:

2003-06-01

Language:

English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:

Karst ( local )
Cave Managemen ( local )
Tenvironmental Impact ( local )
Spectral Analysis ( local )

Genre:

serial ( sobekcm )

Notes

Abstract:

Cave temperature monitoring was carried out in the Cueva del Agua de Iznalloz, Granada, Spain, a cave that has great tourist potential and which has been maintained under natural conditions for over 30 years. The cave temperature under natural conditions was used to identify possible anthropogenic influences, in order to distinguish these from the variations directly related to natural changes. In particular, the relative influence of external weather conditions, thermal modification caused by visitors and the subsequent thermal recovery of the cave were identified. In addition, controlled experiments investigated the effect of two large-scale visits (980 and 2088 visitors day−1) to the cave interior, before any tourist activities in the cave were undertaken. Correlation and spectral analyses of time series were used to determine the thermal behaviour of the cave over time. The effect of both mass visits on the air temperature in the interior of the cave was very rapid (2.5 min). The maximum perturbation of air temperature within the cave during the two experiments was after 30 and 70 min. The memory effect for temperature whilst the cave was open to the public was estimated to be 5–6 h, whilst the response to external meteorological changes exceeded one week. A permanent visitor capacity of 53 people ensures that the natural cave temperature can be regained within 4–5 h. The cave can only support small groups of visitors, not the massive visits characteristic of show caves.

Original Version:

Environmental Conservation, Vol. 30, no. 2 (2003-06-01).

Record Information

Source Institution:

University of South Florida Library

Holding Location:

University of South Florida

Rights Management:

This object is protected by copyright, and is made available here for research and educational purposes. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the object beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

USFLDC Membership

Aggregations:

University of South Florida
Karst Information Portal

Postcard Information

Format:

serial