Speleoclimate dynamics in Santana Cave (PETAR, São Paulo State, Brazil): general characterization and implications for tourist management

Show caves provide tourists with the opportunity to have close contact with natural underground spaces. However, visitation to these places also creates a need for management measures, mainly the definition of tourist carrying capacity. This present work describes the results of climate monitoring and atmospheric profiling performed in Santana Cave (Alto Ribeira State and Tourist Park-PETAR, Brazil) between 2008 and 2011. Based on the results, distinct preliminary zones with different levels of thermal variation were identified, which classify Santana Cave as a warm trap. Two critical points along the tourist route (Cristo and Encontro Halls) were identified, where the temperature of the locality increased by 1.3 degrees Celsius when tourists were present. Air flow from the inner cave to the outside occurs during the austral summer, and the opposite flow occurs when the outside environment is colder than the air inside the cave during the austral winter. This method suggests a maximum limit of approximately 350 visits per day to Santana Cave.