World's Hottest Fierce Earth

This is Badwater Basin in Death Valley.

It's the lowest point in the USA,

which makes it one of the hottest places on the planet.

It's 41 degrees today. That is really hot.

Not a record-breaker for here, but feels it to me.

We're finding out what makes this unique place so scorching hot.

This is a Fierce Earth Special and it's going to be epic.

It is H-O-T - hot!

We'll meet the tough kids who get up early to go to school here...

..learn how to harness the power of the sun to cook our dinner...

Tastes a bit desert-y. But we did cook it in the desert.

..and we'll discover the secrets of staying cool in scorching heat.

The things we do for science!

What happens when the ground shakes, the seas rise up

and the air tears itself apart?

The Fierce Earth team move in,

taking on the most powerful forces on the planet.

Get ready for Fierce Earth -

the Earth and how to survive it.

In 2012, this fierce desert was officially declared

the hottest place in the world with a record-breaking temperature

of 57 degrees Celsius.

This is warmer than the water that comes out of your hot tap at home

and it feels like standing in front of a hairdryer on maximum heat.

It's in the United States of America and this is where...

The Statue of Liberty is here,

Hollywood is here,

and the hottest place on the planet is right here.

It's called Death Valley, and for good reason,

because not much can stay alive here.

This desert is the same size as the whole county of Yorkshire in the UK.

But 5.3 million people live there,

whereas in Death Valley, there are just 620.

That's now 622, because in the month

that Death Valley was named the hottest place on the planet,

Leo and I have travelled here to find out what creates the deadly heat

and how to survive it.

What is it about this place that makes it so very hot?

I've come to meet Ron Peck, who will be our very own bird-man.

To understand what makes it so hot here, we need to take to the sky.

-How are you?

-Good.

-What are you going to do today?

-Paragliding.

What happens is that the ground heats up,

and that hot air rises and carries mass of air up,

-and we're going to rise with it.

-Good luck.

-Thanks.

One reason Death Valley is so hot

is that some parts are 80 metres BELOW sea-level.

And there is a general rule -

the lower somewhere is, the hotter it tends to be.

But there are more reasons. To reveal them,

Ron is going to get some real height.

-Can we let go?

-Let go, let go.

Ron's paraglider is lifted by currents of hot air

rising from the ground.

These currents of hot air are called thermals.

In two minutes,

Ron shot up 1,000 metres on one of those hot currents of air.

These thermals explain the super-high temperatures

that exist in Death Valley.

The scorching sun bakes

the low-lying, rocky and sandy ground of the desert.

The hot air rises.

It's trapped by the mountains surrounding the valley.

It cools slightly before sinking towards the valley floor again.

After that, it is heated by the sun, rises back up again

and is trapped by the mountains again.

That super-heated air in the valley moves up and down

like in a fan-oven at home,

and it increases the temperature on the ground hugely.

It's the mountains that trap this really hot air

and that's the reason why this place

is one of the hottest places on Earth.

There's no escape for this hot air, it stays in this region.

Clare calling Ron. You're up in the sky. What can you see?

Clare, it's beautiful!

I can see across the valley!

I can see all the mountains as far as your eye can see.

With the secrets revealed,

it's time for Ron to come back to earth...with a bump.

Ron, thank you so much for that. It was incredible.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

The huge thermals and scorching winds of Death Valley

show the fearsome power of the sun rays.

It's hard for us human types to settle in areas as hot as this.

We're ideally suited to cooler and wetter places.

But our ancestors seemed to find one way of coping,

by sheltering in white houses.

People today continue to live like this.

How could that help us in Death Valley?

We're back in the hottest place on the planet,

and these two mysterious figures are going to find out.

SCARY MUSIC

This afternoon, we are going to be a walking, talking, breathing,

SWEATING science experiment.

Leo is wearing a white bodysuit. I'm wearing the black one.

We're going to stand here for 15 minutes in the direct sun,

to see who reaches the highest temperature.

It's 3pm, the hottest part of the day

and the temperature is a scorching 44 degrees Celsius,

the temperature of a hot bath.

When we measure the temperatures of the suits,

Leo should be much cooler than me.

When the sun's rays hit Leo's white suit,

many of them will be reflected and bounce off.

But my black suit will absorb the sun's light

and will be converted to heat energy, making ME super hot...

and keeping ME super cool.

As extreme heat can be dangerous, we've called in a medical expert

to keep an eye on us and measure our temperatures.

This is Dr Vicky Mazzeroni, or to her friends, Dr Maz.

Leo, you are blue-purple

and Clare, you are red hot.

I feel red hot, like I'm a coal burning on a fire.

The lighter the colour on the camera, the hotter something is.

As you can see, there's only one winner in our tournament.

We'll let the doctor make it official

with a surface thermometer reading.

Let's check your temperatures.

-42 degrees. That is hot.

-Hot.

-Let's check you out.

-I think I'm going to win.

-39...38.

-The white knight shines through once more.

-The things we do for science.

-Same time tomorrow?

Why not? Come on, Dr Maz.

We have learnt how to keep cool in the world's hottest place.

What happens when summer heat waves hit whole continents

and millions find themselves in the hot zone?

Those heat waves can be more dangerous than floods

and hurricanes combined.

These are the deadliest in modern history.

A heat wave hit America in 1980 and caused at least 1,250 deaths.

Memphis, Tennessee, sweltered

through a record-breaking temperature of 42 degrees Celsius.

Wildfires broke out everywhere and crops died,

costing the nation 20 billion.

People sprayed the roads to stop them from melting.

You may remember the next heat wave, the European heat wave of 2003.

Temperatures hit 48 degrees Celsius -

the hottest the continent had been for more than 500 years

and claimed the lives of more than 70,000 people.

Electrical cables melted and nuclear reactors couldn't be cooled.

Even Britain got hot,

with a new temperature record of 38.5 degrees Celsius.

You'd expect that in Greece, but not Bournemouth!

These heat waves lasted for a matter of weeks, but in Death Valley,

the temperature can be above 32 degrees C for five months.

For thousands of years, hardly anyone lived in this desert.

It's so hot, you can see why!

But now, it's a National Park,

so tourists want to visit so they too can feel the heat.

Families do have to live and work here,

so even in the world's hottest place, you need a school.

It's 5.30 in the morning, the coolest part of the day.

I'm here cos it's my first day at school in the desert.

Kids get up super-early to beat the heat.

This is one of the earliest school runs in the whole of America.

First to be picked up is five-year-old Autumn.

What's it like living in the desert? It's so hot, isn't it?

Well, I like it because it's pretty in the morning.

What time do you get up?

-5.30.

-5:30! It's still dark outside?

-Yeah.

5.30am sounds like an early start, but in a place as hot as this,

you have to get up in the dark to avoid the fierce sun.

It's 7am. Classes are about to start.

It's early, but it feels so hot here already.

I'm going to see what they're doing.

One school in the whole of Death Valley. One class. One teacher.

And get this, just five kids.

Hello, this is Magnolia.

-I'm Kimmy.

-I'm Autumn.

-My name's Eden.

-Hi, I'm Michael.

ALL: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...

'They might have one of the earliest starts in the country,

'but like everywhere in the USA,

'the day begins with a Pledge of Allegiance.'

What is the weather like?

ALL: Sunny and hot.

At 9am, it's already 40 degrees Celsius -

hotter than any temperature recorded in the UK.

There's no football at lunchtime or outdoor play.

The Death Valley kids have to stay inside to avoid the intense heat.

The only play-time is early in the morning

when the temperature is slowly rising.

They've had 20 minutes outside, before 9am.

This is Magnolia. Hello, Magnolia. What's it like to live in the desert?

-Quite dull, actually.

-How do you entertain yourself?

-Video games.

If you could go on holiday, where would you go?

-To England.

-Would you go to England?

-Yeah.

-Why would you like to go to England?

-I love the rain.

For Death Valley to be a better place to live,

what do you think it needs?

I think it needs to be cooler.

I make my exit whilst the kids play one of the few games they're allowed.

A cold water balloon fight - in the shade, of course!

What a morning! It's now midday, It's scorching hot outside.

It's been fascinating meeting tough kids in such a tough environment.

Coming up, Leo takes on the world's toughest run.

Can he beat the ferocious heat of Death Valley?

Back at the hottest place in the world, the sky is looking stormy.

As it's so hot here, you don't get much rain.

But when it does rain, it pours.

That water has made Death Valley look very different to other places.

What seem like hills are actually huge piles of dirt and loose rock,

that water has carved canyons out of.

These canyons may look amazing, but they can also be lethal.

I'm about to find out why with Jay Snow.

Jay calls this scary-looking place home.

He's been a Park Ranger here for 15 years.

He is one of the few people brave or qualified enough,

to explore and patrol these canyons.

And he's climbed nearly every single one...

apart from this one.

-Anyone been up here before, Jay?

-Nobody's been up there.

We're the first, and that's pretty exciting in my opinion.

Does this canyon have a name?

This canyon does not have a name.

We can name this canyon. In fact, YOU can name this canyon.

We'll have to think of a name.

-Good luck, Jay.

-All right. I'll meet you up there.

-Be safe.

-Here we go.

Definitely don't try this at home.

Jay is climbing these hot rocks with no rope or harness.

A job for experts only.

That rock is hot! It's extreme! It's unbelievable!

You're going to LOVE this! But first, I've got to get over this.

Be careful up there, Jay!

With Jay safely up, it's my turn.

I've climbed all over the world, but never faced anything like this.

Loose rock is a climber's enemy - the worst thing you come across.

This is as about as loose as you can climb on.

The rocks have been heated by the sun

to temperatures over 60 degrees Celsius,

and they are so crumbly, every handhold could disintegrate.

OK.

LEO GROANS

-You made it up!

-That was great fun!

-Cool!

We've made it, but the danger isn't over.

The power of water is so incredible here.

If it rains, this is the worst place to be?

You do not want to be up here. We need to get down as fast as we can.

If it even starts to become a sprinkle.

If it started raining now,

and a waterfall came down, it would be terrifying.

Jay showed me this video of exactly that happening. Check it out.

The shallow, sandy soil of Death Valley is bad at soaking up water.

It doesn't happen often, but when you do get rain here, it's trouble.

There's clouds building. Jay's setting up the abseil to get down.

I can't resist going round the corner to see what's there.

It's such an amazing place to explore.

There is no record of anyone else ever climbing here.

At the top of the canyon, the rocks have been baking in the sun.

I've brought a thermal-imaging camera,

so I can see what temperatures they've reached.

Wow.

These white rocks that I'm looking at here, are nearly 70 degrees.

69 degrees Celsius.

Hotter than the water from your hot-water tap!

And three times hotter than the temperature of a UK summer's day.

It's really... Oh, it's like a...

It's like a kettle. Ahh!

OK, get some evidence of our first descent here in Death Valley.

Nobody's been up here before so we get to name it.

It's not every day you get to name your own canyon.

Only one name fits.

I hereby name this terrifying place, Fierce Earth Canyon.

The tablet's overheating. The camera's overheating.

We're going to have to go before everything melts, including me.

Let's go.

No rain, which is good news,

but the intense heat is the real winner today.

That was amazing. It is H-O-T - hot.

We've come back to one of the hottest parts of Death Valley

where it's a baking 43 degrees Celsius.

That's hotter than the water in a Jacuzzi!

We've been challenged to see

whether we can use the power of the sun to cook some food.

This is the Death Valley dinner party.

They have a saying here, "hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk".

I'm going to put that to the test.

Can I cook an egg with just the power of the sun?

Brilliant. It's going white.

I don't want to poison Clare, so we'll come back in a few minutes.

For an egg to start cooking,

the temperature of the pan has to be above 62 degrees Celsius.

Hotter than your radiators at home on full blast!

This speeded-up shot shows that

the sun has already heated the pan well above that.

But I've got a way of cooking that's a lot more scientific.

Take a look at this nifty bit of kit. It's fantastic.

It's called a parabolic solar cooker. The rays hit the surface,

and are converted into heat energy.

That heat heats up the pot and the food.

And in here, I have some popcorn.

POPPING Oh, the popcorn is popping.

And so, I'm pleased to announce, dinner is served.

Looks absolutely minging...

Oh, wow.

And this is something I did prepare earlier.

Ah, it's hot!

And it's spicy.

We've got the world's hottest dish, chilli con carne.

-Would you like some of my car-bonnet egg?

-I might skip it.

Let's go straight to the popcorn.

-Tastes like popcorn.

-Tastes desert-y,

but we did cook it without electricity.

Shall I serve you a lovely chilli?

It might seem weird to eat spicy food on such a hot day,

but food like this can help to cool you down.

The spiciness makes you sweat, that evaporates in the wind,

which helps to cool your body down. Let's give it a go.

Quite spicy, yeah!

Whew!

Nothing's better after a spicy meal than some cool ice cream.

-Cheers.

-It wasn't the tastiest meal I've ever had in my life.

But, we can say, in the hottest place in the world,

it's possible to cook from the power of the sun.

-I think we can call that a success.

--Ish.

I know all about life on the edge.

I've climbed to the top of the world's highest mountain...

..frozen in the Antarctic,

and parachuted off some of the planet's biggest cliffs.

I'm ready for the challenge. What do the team have in store for me today?

I'm nervous about this one. I hate running.

In Death Valley, runners come together to compete

in one of the most extreme races on the planet -

the Badwater Ultramarathon.

It's five times longer than the London Marathon

and it hits 55 degrees C - that's like running in very hot soup.

And check it out, they're all wearing white.

Now we know why.

In fact, it gets so hot during the race,

people can only stop their trainers from melting

by running on the heat-reflecting white lines!

I'm running a section of the race to find out what it's like.

I find running boring. It's not extreme enough for me,

but in Death Valley, it's going to be plenty extreme.

A little bit of suffering makes for a good story.

What I'm doing today isn't just tough, it's dangerous.

Exercising in this heat can put incredible strain on the body.

Dr Maz is here again to run some tests to make sure my body can cope.

There's one important test to find out if I am allowed to run.

Dr Maz has got to test my wee. Nice(!)

-It's time for the blue cup, isn't it?

-I'll go round the van.

I'll be sweating a lot, so my body's water levels will go down,

-which can be really dangerous.

-Thank you!

Dr Maz will test my urine to see if there's enough water

in my system to complete the challenge.

If it's a light colour, that's a good thing as it means I'm hydrated.

If it's dark and orange, that's bad,

and it means I need to drink more.

I suspect I'm going to be quite a bit more dehydrated in 10K's time.

We are looking at these different strips here.

You're a little dehydrated,

so I would like you to drink more fluids.

You might want to drink another litre or another bottle of water.

I want to keep you safe.

How can you stay hydrated when running?

It's impossible to drink continually?

We'll hand you water if we can keep up with you.

-Just drink as much water as you can.

-Drink as much as you can.

It's the middle of the day and oppressively hot.

What Leo's going to be attempting is dangerous,

so we're going to be following him, me and Dr Maz.

I'm ready!

Three, two,

one, zero!

Mo Farrah, eat your heart out!

All right!

It's 44 degrees C, I've only been running for five minutes,

and already I'm dehydrated.

I'm struggling to swallow.

It's so hot and dry, your body loses water at an incredible rate

and replacing it is difficult.

It's really hard to drink,

cos it makes you feel sick.

It's like someone has a hairdryer on you.

Perhaps running is a more extreme than I gave it credit for. Brutal.

If you were to run the London Marathon,

you should drink 3.5 litres over 26 miles.

For the Ultramarathon,

due to the extreme temperature, if I was running it all,

I would need to drink up to 36 litres.

This is one of the toughest things I've done.

You're not just battling the heat,

you're forcing your body to move when all it wants to do is stop.

We've got to watch Leo doesn't push himself and develop heatstroke.

One sign of this condition is mental confusion.

We're going to test for that with a quick quiz.

-What's the capital of England?

-London.

-What's the boiling-point of water?

-100 degrees Celsius.

Who won gold at the 10,000-metre race at the London Olympics?

Mo Farrah! Come on!

But Mo wasn't running in this heat,

and five kilometres from the start, there is a serious moment.

Ah, hang on a minute, Dr Maz, Dr Maz. He's stopped.

'The fierce heat has taken its toll on Leo.'

-How you doing?

-I'm OK. Is there any ice?

-Let's get some ice water.

-I am on it.

-I think he's exhausted.

I'm giving it five minutes, and then it would be foolish to continue.

Yeah, we'll see how far we've got. Right, then, I'm set.

A scary moment, and I don't think I've ever felt that bad before.

But I've never let anything beat me in the past,

and I'm not going to now.

His pace is still incredibly fast.

I've run 8km in 48 minutes,

and the finishing line is just 500 metres away.

Come on, you're almost there! This is the finishing line.

He's our hero.

He picked up the pace at the end, I don't know how he did it.

It's just relentless.

It really feels like you're a chicken in an oven.

But a chicken that's running in an oven.

You are in an oven.

That was epic.

I've taken on the heat of Death Valley and won.

But only just.

The temperature hit 44 degrees.

I had to drink seven bottles of water.

I battled the desert for 8km and refused to admit defeat.

That's one of the toughest things I've done.

Running is far more extreme than I gave it credit for.

Especially here in Death Valley.

There aren't many tougher places than Death Valley -

the hottest place in the world.

But if you do, there are ways to maximise your chances of survival.

Here's our Fierce Earth Guide.

The intense heat saps water from your body,

so drink plenty of fluids - at least a litre of water an hour.

You need to have some energy drinks.

They replace the salts and sugar you lose through sweating.

Wear light-coloured, reflective clothing,

however silly you might look.

Get up early to avoid the heat of the day

and seek shelter from the sun.

This is how you maximise your chances

of surviving the Fierce Earth.

Next time on Fierce Earth,

we explore the powerful and destructive force of a tsunami.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd