While Antarctica is often described as a pristine environment, the potential threats from local pollution sources including tourist ships and emissions associated with scientific activities have recently been raised. However, to date there has been no systematic attempt to model the impacts of such pollutants at the continental scale. Indeed, until very recently there was not even a sulphur emission budget available for Antarctica. Here we present the first comprehensive study of atmospheric pollution in Antarctica using a limited area chemistry climate model, and a monthly emissions inventory for sulphur from maintenance of research stations, ground and air traffic, shipping and the active volcano Mt. Erebus. We find that ship emissions, both sulphurous and black carbon, dominate anthropogenic pollution near the ground. These are likely to rise considerably if recent trends in tourism continue.