Abstract
Historical air temperatures at three karst caves in Slovenia have been compared to current data time series. In Postojnska Jama (PJ), the most visited show cave in Slovenia, the significant temperature difference between historical and modern measurements at the Pulpito site relates to the months April to November. Mean monthly temperatures measured at the Sepolcro site (PJ) in the modern period (2016–2019) are year round significantly higher than in the historical period (1935–1937). The temperature increase over the last 85 years in PJ is attributed to outside temperature rise and additional heat input from visitors, especially for Sepolcro site. A comparison of current (2017–2019) and historical (1956–1957) temperature data in touristically poorly visited Predjama Cave shows lower increase as in PJ and is completely related to outside cave conditions. In the case of Škocjanske Jame (Tiha Jama), air temperature has not significantly increased since the historical 1928 measurements because the monitoring site looks to be morphologically isolated from significant impacts of outside climate and visitors.
Highlights
Recent years have seen numerous studies related to environmental issues in show caves [1,2,3,4],etc.)
A historical air temperature data set covering a period of four years and three months (October 1933 to December 1937) at the Pulpito site (Figs. 1 and 2) was compared with recent mean monthly air temperatures over the course of three years (2017–2019)
Mean monthly cave air temperature values in the more recent three-year period are higher than the historical measurements [12]
Summary
Recent years have seen numerous studies related to environmental issues in show caves [1,2,3,4],etc.). In more and more caves, the impact of visitors on the fragile cave environment is the subject of systematic microclimatic and biological monitoring [5, 6]. Two show caves are among the top ten top tourist destinations in Slovenia. These are Postojnska Jama, with 870,000 visitors in 2019, and the Škocjanske Jame, a UNESCO heritage site, which received 190,000 visitors in 2019. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, visitor numbers in Slovenia’s show caves were down by around 80% in 2020 and similar is expected for 2021
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