Assessing the impact of human activity on cultural heritage in Svalbard: a remote sensing study of London

Abstract

In this study, we focus on the impact of tourism on Svalbard’s cultural heritage within the context of natural and anthropogenic-induced formation processes. Established in northwest Svalbard, the cultural environment of London features the remnants of a marble mining settlement. This research covers the period from 1990 to 2014 and uses high-resolution remote sensing images in combination with ground-based surveys to: identify and map wear on vegetation caused by recent human activity, and analyse and assess changes in the state of the cultural environment. The number of visitors to London has risen from a few dozen in the mid-1990s to 1200–1300 annually. Our results show a gradual and ongoing deterioration of the vegetation cover. Worn and patchy vegetation is especially apparent along access trails to and in the vicinity of the most popular cultural heritage features. London as a cultural environment is changing, and our study has shown that visitors during the last 25 years have played a part in that transformation.

Keywords:

• cultural heritage
• vegetation
• remote sensing
• monitoring
• London
• Svalbard

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

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⁵ LOV-2001-06-15-79.

⁶ § 3f.

⁷ § 39 and 42.

⁸ Barr, “Arctic and Antarctic”; Sandodden et al., Kulturminneplan.

⁹ See e.g. Xu et al., “Temperature and Vegetation Seasonality Diminishment”.

¹⁰ Øseth, Climate Change; Barlindhaug et al., “Monitoring Archaeological Sites”; Kaslegard, Climate Change and Cultural Heritage.

¹¹ Conway, No Man’s Land; Arlov, Svalbards historie.

¹² Governor of Svalbard, Reiselivsstatistikk.

¹³ Statistics Norway, Dette er Svalbard 2014.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Sandodden et al., Kulturminneplan.

¹⁶ Barr, “Arctic and Antarctic”; Sandodden et al., Kulturminneplan.

¹⁷ Prestvold et al., Cruise Handbook.

¹⁸ Ibid., 156.

¹⁹ Barr, “Arctic and Antarctic”, 22.

²⁰ Bjerck, Overvåking av kulturmiljø; Roura, The Footprint of Polar Tourism.

²¹ Tømmervik et al., Metodikk.

²² Riksrevisjonen, Riksrevisjonens undersøkelse.

²³ Barr et al., Gold – or I’m a Dutchman.

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²⁵ Kruse, Frozen assets.

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²⁷ Prestvold et al., Cruise Handbook.

²⁸ Hagen et al., Overvåking av ferdselsslitasje.

²⁹ The Governor of Svalbard.

³⁰ Tømmervik et al., Metodikk.

³¹ Johansen et al., “Vegetation Mapping”.

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³⁵ Tucker, “Red and Photographic Infrared”; Barlindhaug et al., “Monitoring Archaeological Sites”; Johansen and Tømmervik, “The Relationship”.

³⁶ Jackson, Multivariate Data Analysis.

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³⁸ ©2014 Exelis Visual Information Solutions.

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⁴¹ Schepers et al., “Transmittance and Reflectance Measurements”.

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⁴³ Roura, The Footprint of Polar Tourism; Hagen et al., “Managing Visitor Sites”.

⁴⁴ Tucker, “Red and Photographic Infrared”; Lillesand et al., Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation.

⁴⁵ Barr, “Arctic and Antarctic”; Sandodden et al., Kulturminneplan.

⁴⁶ Roura, The Footprint of Polar Tourism.

⁴⁷ Ibid.

⁴⁸ Sandodden et al., Kulturminneplan.

⁴⁹ Riksantikvaren, “Kulturminne og kulturmiljø”.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norwegian Research Council [grant number 226413]; Fram Centre flagship: Environmental impact of industrial development in the north (MIKON) [CULRES].