Spatial and Temporal Scales of Human Disturbance - McMurdo Station, Antarctica

This report summarizes the results of a study of the temporal and spatial
scales of human disturbance at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It represents the
culmination of a series of international workshops, a year of planning
activities and report writing, and a three year pilot project. The goal was to
rigorously test the design elements of a long term monitoring program to be
implemented at McMurdo Station. The objective of long term monitoring is to
observe and quantify impacts caused by science and support operations. The
monitoring system is designed to accurately describe the status and the trends
in environmental condition in support of environmental management and decision
making. The design of the long term monitoring program is based on historical
information as well as data collected during the pilot project. During the
pilot project the terrestrial and marine settings at McMurdo Station were
intensively sampled. A "phased-in" approach allowed resources to be
concentrated on defining the attributes of specific components of the system
each year. During the first year the terrestrial (land) setting was targeted
for intense sampling. The second field year included a revised sampling plan
for the terrestrial setting based on the first year results and an initial
sampling of the marine setting. In the third year both the terrestrial and the
marine sampling plans were revised based on the previous year's results and to
test any remaining program design assumptions. A number of variables were
measured including physical (surface disturbance, grain size, carbon content),
chemical (PCBs, metals, and hydrocarbons) and biological (benthic community
structure) indicators of impact. More than 2000 samples were taken over the
term of the project providing the data needed for a robust statistical
assessment of the monitoring program's design elements.