DETERMINATION OF THE CARBON EMISSIONS OF RESEARCH VESSELS IN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIONS WITH A STATISTICAL APPROACH

Abstract

The vast majority of studies carried out in Antarctica is provided by research vessels. However, data on the environmental impact of carbon emissions from research vessels are limited. In this study, it is aimed to develop two different scenarios with statistical methods, to determine the emissions of ships conducting scientific expeditions in Antarctica and to propose different methods to reduce the emissions. After calculating the fuel consumption of the research ship and aircraft according to these scenarios, the emission amounts of pollutant gases were estimated for each scenario using the emission factors in the literature. In the first scenario, emission calculations were made assuming that only scientific expeditions were made by sea from Europe to the west of Antarctica. In the second scenario, the calculation is made by assuming that the same region is used in an integrated way by air and sea transportation. A total of 2143 tons of CO2 emissions were calculated in the first scenario where only the sea route is used. 60%, 38% and 2% of the carbon emissions are due to open sea voyage, staying at anchor and ice navigation, respectively. In the second scenario, where the expedition is integrated with the airline, 1218 tons of CO2 emissions are calculated, where 66%, 21%, 10% and 3% of the emission are due to staying at anchor, flight, open sea voyage and ice navigation, respectively. Calculations show that the use of a research vessel along with the airline can reduce emissions by 57% in this study. In conclusion, this study shows that the effects of carbon emissions on the Antarctic environment can be reduced if countries that are not geographically close to Antarctica use air and sea transportation together, instead of sending research vessels directly for Antarctic expeditions.