Spring Frozen Planet


Spring

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Transcript


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The sun is absent for up to half the year in the polar regions.

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When it returns, at the beginning of spring,

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its warmth will transform this magical ice world.

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The greatest seasonal change on our planet is now underway.

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Antarctica is still locked in ice, and surrounded by a frozen ocean.

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Nonetheless, there are signs of spring.

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Adelie penguins are arriving - just the males.

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They've spent five months at sea, where it's warmer than it is on land

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and now they're in a hurry, for spring will be short.

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They have travelled 6,000 miles across the ocean

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since leaving their colony last year,

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and now they're returning to breed.

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They cannot lay their eggs on ice, for they would freeze,

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so they have to come here, where there is bare rock.

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Over the coming months,

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the few parts of Antarctica that are ice-free

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will be the stage on which five million Adelies

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will build their nests.

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To construct one, they need pebbles, and without a good-looking nest,

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a male will be unable to attract a female,

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when they at last arrive.

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An impressive property demonstrates your worth as a mate.

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It takes stones of all shapes and sizes to build a decent nest,

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and finding ones that are just right is not easy.

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So some penguins turn to a life of crime.

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The one who has been robbed seems unaware

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that the thief is just over his shoulder, and looking for more.

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The thief's nest is coming along nicely,

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probably because he keeps a particularly sharp lookout

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for robbers -

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after all, it takes one to know one.

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It's still cold, but the early season sun

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does lift the temperature by a few degrees.

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That, however, can have unexpected, even dangerous consequences.

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The sea is heating faster than the land,

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pulling cold air from the middle of the continent towards the coast.

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These katabatic winds are stronger than any hurricane.

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They are the coldest and the most ferocious on the planet.

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The storms catch many new arrivals by surprise,

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and are the reason that spring here is, in fact, the deadliest season.

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Here, early birds take a great risk.

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Some years, entire colonies are lost,

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buried beneath the snow.

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The survivors of this storm

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must hope that the females prove to be worth the wait

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when they finally decide to turn up.

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Spring in the north of our planet.

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The sun, after an absence of six months,

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breaks the horizon for the first time.

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A female polar bear emerges from her den beneath the snow.

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The sun must be a welcome relief after so long in the darkness.

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Her den is on a high slope,

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well away from hungry male bears who would kill her cubs,

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but close enough to the sea ice where she can find food

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for her extraordinary new family...

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..three young cubs.

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If she can raise them all to independence,

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it'll be a rare achievement.

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One of the cubs is underweight,

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and will be fortunate to survive these early weeks.

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If the family reaches the sea ice, where the female can catch seals,

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her milk will be enriched,

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and the smaller cub will quickly gain size and strength.

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The sea ice, though, is a dangerous place.

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The male polar bear has been out on the frozen ocean all winter.

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Times have been lean,

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and a bear cub would certainly make a welcome snack.

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However, the mainstay of his diet is seals,

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and now is the time when they have their pups.

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The surface of the frozen sea is marked with pressure ridges

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and cracks created by the fluctuating tides.

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Both are good places to look for seals.

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He has detected a seal den beneath the ice.

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Now he must pin-point it, using only his extraordinary sense of smell.

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By treading lightly, he can avoid scaring his prey.

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He will need to punch through a metre of snow to reach the den,

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and if his aim is not exactly on target,

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the seal will certainly escape.

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In fact, the ringed seal abandoned her den

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just a few hours ago

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and her pup has climbed up on to the surface.

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It's more exposed up here, but it's easier to see an approaching bear.

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The pup is well camouflaged.

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Difficult to see when its mother has left it to go fishing.

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But he can still smell it.

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Nine out of ten polar bear hunts end in failure.

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The sun's warming effect on the Arctic is increasing

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and the sea ice is showing the first signs of weakening.

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Inland, the northern rivers are still locked in ice.

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The frozen waterfalls are like dams

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holding back billions of tonnes of fresh water

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that has not moved for almost six months.

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The vast watershed lies motionless,

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but as spring advances, it beings to stir.

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The frozen waterfalls start to weaken.

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Above them, the pressure is mounting.

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Now, from high above, whole sections can be seen to be on the move.

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The waterfalls are straining to hold back the force

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that is building up above them.

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The dam bursts...

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and the river is unleashed.

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Millions of tonnes of ice grind their way downstream,

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driven by the unstoppable force of the meltwater.

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Boulders and trees are plucked from the bank side.

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Within just a few days, the rivers of the north are all running.

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The Arctic's fresh water is flowing again.

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These vast floods contain 10% of the world's fresh water

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and as they enter the ocean, they accelerate the break-up.

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Soon, an area of sea ice the size of Australia

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will vanish from the Arctic Ocean.

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As the huge ice-sheet breaks up, wildlife returns to the North.

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The polar bear mother has made it to the edge of the sea-ice,

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but the smallest cub is nowhere to be seen.

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It's a sad outcome,

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but the disappearance improves the chances of the remaining two,

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who now have more milk to share.

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Having led her cubs to the edge of the ice,

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the mother's next challenge is to catch a seal.

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Not easy with these two in tow!

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CUB GRUNTS

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Her prey beneath the ice can detect the slightest vibration,

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especially from bears.

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And this is not the stealthiest of hunting parties.

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BEAR GROWLS

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Leaving her cubs behind, however, is not an option -

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a male bear would eat one in a moment.

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This is not going to be easy.

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It seems that the cubs already see themselves as fearsome hunters,

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but they're still young enough to accept their mother's discipline.

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It's the naughty corner for you!

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This is not going to be their lucky morning.

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They saw no sign of a seal and the cubs are hungry again.

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The mother has been nursing for four months without once eating herself,

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and now her milk is drying up.

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She must catch a seal soon, or the whole family will starve.

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The challenge of finding food is getting harder.

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She needs the sea-ice as a platform from which to hunt

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and it's breaking up faster with each passing day.

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Even the ice around the coast is starting to break.

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The first cracks here are eagerly awaited by some...

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..narwhals.

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The unicorns of the North are on a mission -

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to reach the new fishing grounds

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in the bays that have been frozen up all winter, but are now opening up.

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To get to them, the narwhals must travel down leads -

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temporary cracks in the ice.

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But these new roads could close at any time,

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cutting off the air that they need to breathe.

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The road narrows until there's barely room for one-way traffic.

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Then, a surprise...

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narwhals coming from the other direction.

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It's a stand-off.

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Each team faces an armoury of sharp tusks.

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Finally, one side concedes

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and everyone continues in the same direction.

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Within a week, the remaining bays break wide open,

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and the narwhals turn their attention to social matters.

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No-one knows exactly what the narwhal's tusk is for.

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Some say it's used for fencing,

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yet these exchanges are too gentle to be real fights.

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Perhaps these encounters

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are to remind each animal of where it stands in narwhal society.

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We may never know.

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Bizarre creatures appear as if from nowhere.

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The tiny plankton they eat have been fuelled by the increasing warmth

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of the sun and fertilised by the nutrients

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brought down by the great rivers and released from the melting sea-ice.

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Sea gooseberries strain the water with their stinging filaments,

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their beating cilia scatter the sun's rays

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into dazzling bursts of colour.

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Beneath the breaking sea ice, a predatory sea slug

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flies through the water on translucent wings.

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It's on the trail of a peculiar swimming snail.

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And now the most voracious of the plankton-eaters

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swim up from the depths...

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Arctic cod.

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SEAGULLS CRY

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The shoals can be enormous, some containing 500 million fish

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and predators travel hundreds of miles to feast on them.

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The cod harvest is THE annual event

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for the birds and seals of the far North.

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For just a short period,

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the combination of the strengthening sun, the newly-flowing rivers

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and the breaking sea ice make the Arctic Ocean teem with life.

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The land is also transformed by the sun's heat.

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The small patches of bare ground that appear are darker than the snow

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so they absorb more of the sun's energy.

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This accelerates the melt.

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The Arctic tundra is unveiled.

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By tracking the sun, Arctic poppies catch its rays around the clock,

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so their flowers are always warmer than their surroundings.

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For early season insects, this warmth is even more valuable

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than nectar if they're to stay active in the cold.

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The woolly bear caterpillar does not need the warmth from flowers

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to kick-start its spring.

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It's always the first insect to appear after the snow retreats

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and the story of how it does so is truly astonishing.

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At the start of spring, the caterpillar eats as fast as it can,

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as indeed it must, for this far north, the season will be brief.

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The days shorten only too soon, but the caterpillar has not yet

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got enough reserves to transform itself into a moth.

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It can't leave the Arctic, for it can't fly,

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so it settles down beneath a rock.

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The sun's warmth rapidly dwindles.

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Beneath the rock, the caterpillar is out of the wind,

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but the cold penetrates deep into the ground.

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Soon, its heart stops beating.

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It ceases to breathe, and its body starts to freeze -

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first its gut, then its blood.

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Spring.

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After four months of darkness, the Arctic begins to thaw.

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And the caterpillar rises from the dead.

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By the time the first shoots of willow appear

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in the early spring, the woolly bear is already eating.

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But no matter how fast the woolly bear eats, it will not have time

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to gather enough food this year, either,

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and the cold closes in once again.

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Year after year, the caterpillar slows down in the autumn

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and then freezes solid.

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But eventually, a very special spring arrives.

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This one will be its last.

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It's now 14 years old - the world's oldest caterpillar.

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Its remaining days now become frantic.

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It starts to weave a silk cocoon.

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Inside, its body is changing into one that can fly and search,

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abilities that will be crucial in the days ahead.

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It's waited over a decade for this spring and now, its time is near.

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All across the Arctic, moths are emerging.

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After completing their 14-year preparation,

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they now have just a few days to find a partner and mate.

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No life illustrates more vividly the shortness of the Arctic spring

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or the struggle to survive in this most seasonal of places.

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As spring advances,

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the transformation of the tundra continues.

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THEY SQUEAK

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CHEEPING

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Migrants begin arriving from the south

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and suddenly the tundra is alive with birds and chicks.

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The Arctic's transformation is complete.

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This influx of life is good news for some permanent residents.

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Food is rarely plentiful out on the tundra.

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The Arctic wolves must make the most of this boom while it lasts.

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HONKING

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The wolves must gather as much food as they can.

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Many miles from here, other members of the pack are relying on them.

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HOWLING

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This barren landscape is a hard place to make a living,

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forcing wolf packs to be smaller here than further south.

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Six hungry mouths to feed.

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The cubs are just over a month old.

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BARKING AND YELPING

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The ducks are devoured instantly, but on the long journey home,

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they also caught an Arctic hare, a mainstay of the tundra diet,

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and one the cubs seem to be particularly keen on.

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Uneaten food is usually hidden for leaner times,

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but there will be no leftovers today.

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The cubs are growing fast and are always hungry.

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GROWLING

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The good times are certainly back, but these white wolves remind us

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of the Arctic's less welcoming side.

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Their coats are pale to conceal them during the long, snowy winter.

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It's easy to forget that one month ago,

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this land was a barren, white desert.

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At the southern end of our planet,

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the Antarctic sea ice is still at its greatest extent.

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But there are a few islands on its outer edge

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that the sea ice never quite reaches.

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South Georgia is washed by the rich waters of the Southern Atlantic

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and the comparative warmth of the sea

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takes the edge off the vicious southern winter.

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It's even possible for a few hardy animals,

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like the wandering albatross, to live here throughout the whole year.

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The enormous albatross chicks take 13 months to fledge,

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so they have no choice but to sit here throughout the winter.

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It can't be easy, but the thick layer of fluffy down

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keeps out the worst of the cold.

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Their parents travel thousands of miles to collect the fish

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and squid they need to stay warm and to grow.

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The season is turning and storms blow in with little warning.

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King penguins have also been here all winter.

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Their chicks survive by huddling in creches to conserve their heat.

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A solitary bird here standing alone would quickly die of exposure.

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It seems for a hardy few, violent storms are a price worth paying

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for year-round fishing in the rich waters of the southern ocean.

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The penguins have had the beach to themselves all winter,

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but that is a luxury that will not last.

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As the winter storms subside, life begins to return.

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For half of the year, South Georgia has the greatest concentration

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of sea birds in the world

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and most of them arrive in the early spring.

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Macaroni penguins make the most impressive entrance -

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over five million pairs of them.

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They are the world's most numerous penguin

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and half of them are now here.

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The arrival is complete.

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Courtship is next on South Georgia's busy spring schedule.

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The wandering albatross has the most elaborate display.

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MIXED-PITCH "POPPING"

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These two are renewing their bonds after being months apart.

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Wanderers pair up in their teens

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and can spend a further 50 years together -

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one of the longest partnerships in the animal world.

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By the middle of spring, the snows have cleared

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from the coves and the low ground.

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The beaches are almost free of ice too,

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but that isn't the biggest change facing the king penguins.

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Their peaceful waterfront has turned into an obstacle course of blubber.

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The elephant seals have arrived.

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This beach now contains a greater mass of animals

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than any other in the world.

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The young seals were conceived here a year ago,

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and now that they've been born,

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their mothers are ready to mate again.

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The mating rights on this patch of the beach belong to a beach master.

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His harem contains 50 females -

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females that are coveted by others.

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His authority is being challenged.

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This rival means business.

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This could be the beach master's first serious test

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of his spring campaign.

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The beach master himself weighs four tonnes,

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but this rival is his equal.

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When these titans clash,

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bones crunch.

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He has won the first battle,

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but he may have to defend his harem every hour for the next month.

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If he can stay master of his beach for this period,

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many of the young born here next year will be his.

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It's the end of spring on the wandering albatross's cliffs,

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their season for fledging.

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Last year's chicks have lost their fluffy down

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and step up to the challenge of getting into the air.

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SQUAWKING

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An albatross is not very competent on the ground,

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so until it can fly, it isn't good for much

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and this makes the maiden flight

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THE crucial event in an albatross's life.

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Managing the largest wing span in the world takes practice...

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..lots of it.

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Weeks can go by like this.

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Certainly the winds must be right, but it does appear that for some,

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the problem is something of a mental one.

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At last.

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The Southern Ocean beckons.

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This bird's feet will not touch land again for five years.

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1,000 miles further south,

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on the edge of the Antarctic continent,

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the sea ice is only just starting to break.

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But the Adelie penguins' activities are certainly warming up.

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The males have now finished their nests by fair means or foul

0:42:320:42:36

and the females are finally returning,

0:42:360:42:40

just as the weather is improving.

0:42:400:42:43

Now their courtship can begin.

0:42:430:42:45

RHYTHMIC CAWING

0:42:450:42:48

The eggs are laid and the females leave the job of incubating them

0:43:430:43:47

to the males, while they go fishing out on the fragmenting sea ice.

0:43:470:43:51

Killer whales.

0:44:020:44:04

It's teamwork that makes killer whales so dangerous.

0:44:120:44:15

And THIS is a big team.

0:44:170:44:19

There is no real need for the penguins to be alarmed.

0:46:140:46:18

These killer whales are a kind that only eats fish.

0:46:190:46:22

Rising out is simply the best way for the whales to work out

0:46:280:46:31

which cracks lead towards the coast and better fishing.

0:46:310:46:35

A new generation of Adelies steps forth

0:46:480:46:51

into the short Antarctic spring

0:46:510:46:54

to be nurtured by industrious parents who've taken great risks

0:46:540:46:57

to give their young a head start.

0:46:570:47:00

They will need to grow fast if they are to fledge

0:47:040:47:08

and leave before the freeze sets in again.

0:47:080:47:10

It's a battle they will win or lose over the approaching summer.

0:47:120:47:17

To film the entire breeding cycle of the Adelie penguin,

0:47:410:47:44

Frozen Planet sent a team to one of the world's largest colonies,

0:47:440:47:48

at Cape Crozier, Antarctica.

0:47:480:47:50

I've heard so much about it and read so much about it.

0:47:500:47:53

Finally we're going to get there. It's good.

0:47:530:47:56

Cameraman Mark Smith and director Jeff Wilson

0:47:560:47:59

plan to spend the next four months living amongst the penguins

0:47:590:48:02

in a location first visited by the early explorers a century ago.

0:48:020:48:06

So arduous was Scott's winter expedition to Cape Crozier

0:48:080:48:11

that it became known as "the worst journey in the world".

0:48:110:48:15

Wow, it's fantastic!

0:48:150:48:19

Modern means make Mark and Jeff's journey a more comfortable affair,

0:48:210:48:24

but once there, they will be tested

0:48:240:48:26

to the very limits of their endurance.

0:48:260:48:29

The pair arrive in early spring

0:48:340:48:36

with enough supplies to survive the next four months working alone in the Antarctic wilderness.

0:48:360:48:42

We're here!

0:48:420:48:44

Scott's legend of Cape Crozier tells of some extreme weather,

0:48:450:48:49

to say the least,

0:48:490:48:52

so Mark and Jeff take advantage of the clear conditions,

0:48:520:48:55

in the knowledge that the Adelies' arrival is imminent.

0:48:550:48:58

But the next morning, things take a turn for the worse.

0:49:010:49:04

We've just come up to this ridge

0:49:040:49:06

to go and check what it looks like down in the colony.

0:49:060:49:09

ROARING

0:49:090:49:12

But even here you can hear...

0:49:120:49:14

a huge kind of roaring noise

0:49:140:49:18

up on the hill. Never really heard anything like that before.

0:49:180:49:22

Up there, it must be blowing the most almighty gale,

0:49:270:49:30

and that is, pff, you know, just a mile away or something.

0:49:300:49:33

So that means that that could get here very, very quickly.

0:49:330:49:36

So yeah, it makes you slightly scared. It's weird, isn't it?

0:49:360:49:41

The winds here are famously ferocious,

0:49:410:49:44

and with so little experience of this location,

0:49:440:49:47

Mark and Jeff retreat to the relative shelter of their hut.

0:49:470:49:52

I was just stood here thinking, "Well, it can't be too bad,

0:49:520:49:55

"because we haven't seen rocks starting to blow around yet,"

0:49:550:49:58

and just at that moment a rock took off and rolled down there.

0:49:580:50:03

Oh, dear, it's getting stronger.

0:50:060:50:10

By the second day of the storm, the winds reach 80 miles an hour,

0:50:110:50:15

and it's apparent that even getting lunch from the outside larder

0:50:150:50:18

is too risky.

0:50:180:50:20

To their increasing alarm, the storm continues to build.

0:50:300:50:34

All afternoon, it's been blowing about...must have been 100 miles an hour,

0:50:360:50:42

and in the last half-hour it's just got a lot stronger.

0:50:420:50:45

Aside from being utterly terrified,

0:50:450:50:47

there's the added worry that our gear is stashed outside somewhere.

0:50:470:50:50

We didn't have room for it in the hut,

0:50:500:50:53

and we don't know whether it's going to be there in the morning,

0:50:530:50:56

which could spell the end of our trip.

0:50:560:50:59

On the third day of the storm, the winds hit 130 miles an hour.

0:50:590:51:04

The hut starts to shake from its very foundations,

0:51:040:51:07

and Mark and Jeff's situation becomes critical.

0:51:070:51:11

The wind's so strong,

0:51:110:51:12

it's constantly blowing the pilot light out on the paraffin stove,

0:51:120:51:16

so the temperature's dropping.

0:51:160:51:18

The wind's rising. Sounds like the bloody roof's coming off.

0:51:180:51:23

The really scary thing is that had we gone out down to the colony

0:51:260:51:30

and tried to film today,

0:51:300:51:32

there's a very high likelihood that we'd be dead by now.

0:51:320:51:35

And I don't say that lightly.

0:51:350:51:38

There's no way we would have seen this through down there.

0:51:380:51:41

And that is quite sobering.

0:51:410:51:44

After four terrifying days inside the hut,

0:51:520:51:55

the winds finally drop, and Mark and Jeff are keen to see

0:51:550:51:58

what, if any, equipment has survived.

0:51:580:52:01

All the real important stuff, the camera stuff, is all still here,

0:52:010:52:06

and it's still strapped to this rock.

0:52:060:52:09

You have no idea how much joy that gives us.

0:52:090:52:13

We can get on with our jobs now!

0:52:130:52:15

The first things to welcome us to the colony are these skuas,

0:52:200:52:23

which come in and batter us from above.

0:52:230:52:28

At its height, the colony will swell to over half a million penguins,

0:52:350:52:40

and in the 24-hour daylight of the Antarctic summer,

0:52:400:52:43

Mark and Jeff spend all of their waking hours filming.

0:52:430:52:48

Unpredictable weather continues to force the team

0:52:480:52:51

to climb the two miles back to the relative shelter of their hut,

0:52:510:52:56

and Mark devises a novel way of testing the wind speed.

0:52:560:52:59

Stop!

0:53:010:53:03

After six weeks, the first sign that the pair

0:53:080:53:10

might be tiring of their penguin neighbours.

0:53:100:53:14

Over there's a leopard seal.

0:53:140:53:16

It's the first non-penguin-looking animal in two months!

0:53:160:53:20

Will you look at that? It's a leopard seal!

0:53:200:53:22

I was down here filming the penguins coming in,

0:53:240:53:26

followed this penguin that came out of the waves up the beach,

0:53:260:53:29

very nice shot, stopped the shot

0:53:290:53:32

and there in the middle of the frame was this completely white penguin...

0:53:320:53:36

trying to get into the shot.

0:53:360:53:39

We suspect that he might be following us around now.

0:53:390:53:42

Working around the clock for this length of time

0:53:450:53:48

in the presence of half a million screaming penguins

0:53:480:53:51

would test anyone's resolve.

0:53:510:53:54

I hate carrying gear. Hear that? I hate carrying gear. I don't want to do it any more.

0:53:560:54:00

Midway through their trip, after more than 1,000 hours amongst the penguins,

0:54:030:54:07

their grip on reality is beginning to loosen.

0:54:070:54:10

Here we are on the penguin superhighway,

0:54:110:54:14

where the penguins go down to the sea.

0:54:140:54:17

It seems that they follow the American system...

0:54:180:54:23

driving on the right, going down to the sea on the right,

0:54:230:54:28

coming back from the sea on the left as you're facing the sea.

0:54:280:54:32

I'm fairly sure that yesterday they were doing the British system.

0:54:330:54:37

The legendary Cape Crozier weather soon snaps them back into reality.

0:54:410:54:46

I'm just filming the penguins

0:54:460:54:48

with this huge kind of wind storm

0:54:480:54:52

coming over the ice cap,

0:54:520:54:54

the kind of thing we were warned about by the guy who was here before,

0:54:540:54:57

who has been here several years, saying "With skies like this, you should run for home".

0:54:570:55:01

But we're just going to stay and film it.

0:55:010:55:04

Because we're the BBC!

0:55:040:55:06

But in this part of the world,

0:55:060:55:08

working for the BBC doesn't count for much.

0:55:080:55:11

Within minutes, the winds reach hurricane strength,

0:55:110:55:14

and the crew are in serious trouble.

0:55:140:55:17

So, we've got to now venture out and go about a mile up this valley,

0:55:170:55:20

which looks like it's got about 80mph winds blowing down it.

0:55:200:55:25

So it's going to be quite an adventure.

0:55:250:55:27

Bit frightening, though, really.

0:55:270:55:30

After three months, the pair are now fully aware

0:55:300:55:34

-of the strength the winds can reach.

-Getting a little stronger now!

0:55:340:55:37

There is a very real danger

0:55:370:55:39

that they could be separated and lost in these white-out conditions.

0:55:390:55:43

-We're going to go

-BLEEP.

0:56:060:56:08

Two terrifying hours later, and their relief

0:56:110:56:14

at finally reaching the hut is tangible.

0:56:140:56:17

THEY LAUGH

0:56:170:56:19

With a month still to go at Cape Crozier,

0:56:210:56:24

Mark, Jeff and the penguins will face many more storms like this.

0:56:240:56:28

But it seems their greatest challenge

0:56:280:56:30

will be to maintain their sanity.

0:56:300:56:34

Here we are, travelling through the Antarctic by sled.

0:56:340:56:37

We're being pulled by a herd of huskies. Oh!

0:56:370:56:40

12 of them panting out front, breath steaming from their mouths.

0:56:430:56:48

And as we go along,

0:56:480:56:50

we see the happy people waving at us.

0:56:500:56:52

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:57:240:57:27

E-mail [email protected]

0:57:270:57:30

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