What are the positive and negative effects of humans working and living in antarctica?

Answer 1

One positive effect on people who live and work in Antarctica is that they can learn more about the coldest place on earth. However, the presence of humans in Antarctica has the potential to harm local ecosystems by introducing problems such as overfishing, overhunting, encroachment on native animals' territories, etc.

The idea that the few hundred science experts living in the Antarctic do much hunting in -70 degree temp is interesting at best. They try to stay inside eating packaged food as much as possible. The hunting and fishing would be very limited.

The positive side of these science missions is that we learn much about the few unspoiled section of our world that are left. We learn about the natural climate changes that the planet has seen and can compare them to present day. We know, from these missions, that the current warming trend started 6000 years ago, long before man started using fuels. We have learned that temperature does not follow CO2, but that CO2 follows temperature. We now about the thinning ozone layer (miscalled the "hole") the occurs a few weeks each year when the sun doesn't hit the ozone layer. We have learned this "hole" is natural.

The impact of science experts there is very small because they try, very hard, to minimize the impact they have on the environment. There are no people migrating to this area on purpose or permanently.