Appendix B - Visitor Numbers + Temperature Peaks

<i>Figure Captions</i><br>Visitor Numbers + Temperature Peaks - Cleaned dataset containing Tour times for Cathedral Cave, Wellington NSW, Australia, as well as tour sizes, both by total and ticket type breakdown. The tours also contain the total change in temperature peaks found in Appendix D that was matched with a tour time.<br><br><i>Abstract</i><br>Show caves are caves that have been made accessible for guided public visits and are a large tourism industry globally, amassing $850 million per year. However, with the increase of people entering these caves, there is an increased concern of the impact that people may have on the condition of the caves. This has brought attention within the caves, as the attraction of tourists can build up and raise the temperature, in comparison to their natural range. To assist in the understanding of human impacts on cave temperature levels, the study compiled temperature data from a probe within Cathedral Cave, Wellington NSW, Australia and compiled into a database, which was used to create a time series for analysis of significant temperature peaks, which was then compared with visitor numbers within the cave system. These comparisons were analysed using several linear regressions and scatter plots, to determine what the major temperature peak trends. The research found that there were three key factors on the change in temperature: the size of a tour, the time of day that a tour takes place in and the tour composition (i.e. the number of adults vs children). These factors were found to display a range of impacts upon how the temperature would change, in comparison to the baseline data that was collected by the same logger which showed no temperature changes in the absence of visitors. Potential new avenues for research includes restrictions of tour sizes, detailed studies into the impacts of children, seasonal variabilities, the value in multiple, more accurate climate loggers and looking at other caves. This can be used to help cave management in the future, balancing displaying the cave’s natural beauty with the health of the cave ecosystem.