Fig. 2.

Map of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. This map shows the location of human activities and the various potential Antarctic tipping point elements. It extends to 60° South, as recognised by the Antarctic Treaty System. Ice-free areas, tourist landing sites, and coastal research stations within 5 km of future ice-free areas, are most susceptible to pollution and the introduction of invasive species. The ice shelves show where the ice sheets are most likely to retreat and the ice shelves to collapse. The Treaty boundary indicates the management area for the ATS and its scope. The current krill and toothfish habitats at fishable depths indicate habitats that can be accessed by fisheries. These may be impacted by species redistribution, ocean acidification, sea ice melt, and pollution. The highlighted claims, research stations, and tourist sites show the location of significant human activity in Antarctica, which is governed by the ATS. The northern boundaries of the claims are not specified as Norway and Chile have no specified northern limit. The sea ice winter and summer extents, labelled on the map, show the large and variable area that the sea ice covers. The labelled currents show a critical part of oceanic circulation. Data sources: Research stations 5 km from future ice-free areas and tourist landing sites: Duffy and Lee 2019; Future ice-free areas; Lee and Terauds 2017; Coastline, Ice Shelf, Antarctic Treaty Area Boundary 60 degrees south: Esri 2014; Exploitable krill and toothfish habitat based on bathymetry: GEBCO 2021, Cuzin-Roudy et al. 2014; Sea ice: Guillaumot et al. 2018; Currents: ArcGIS.com 2016; Sea ice extent: Fetterer et al. 2017