Abstract: Human activities in the Antarctic include scientific investigation, fishing, tourism and exploration. The increasing intensity of human activity presents a challenge to fragile Antarctic ecosystems and environments. Because ships are the main carriers and vehicles of human activities, the trajectory and intensity of these ships directly reflect the scope and intensity of human activities in the Antarctic. This study uses the ship trajectory data obtained by the AIS satellite from June 2015 to May 2016 to perform a theme analysis based on the human activities in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The study found that there are about 426 vessels active in the Antarctic Peninsula region, the main types of which are freighters, fishing boats, passenger ships and sailboats. The length of the vessels is largely between 50 and 100 meters. Seasonal differences in ship activities are significant. Antarctic tourism and scientific research are concentrated in November–March, while fishing vessels maintain a high level of activity throughout the year. According to the analysis of regional traffic intensity, the most popular tourist attraction in the Antarctic Peninsula area is the Lemaire Channel. The number of trips shows a high degree of consistency with the IAATO tourism statistics, so the ship trajectory data can be used as a supplement to the tourism statistics. The analysis of the scientific research activities shows that seven of the ten scientific research stations with the highest ship traffic intensity in the Antarctic Peninsula belong to South American countries. The country with the highest intensity of ship scientific research activity is Argentina, followed by Chile, while China ranks seventh.

Key words: Antarctic Peninsula, human activities, ship, satellite AIS