Life Stream Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth

There's an ocean where giants gather to feast.

Where people battle the planet's roughest seas.

It stretches nearly 10,000 miles from Arctic to Antarctic...

..from tropical shallows...

..to mysterious depths.

It's an ocean of extremes...

..engine room for storms 1,000 miles across...

..yet also a sanctuary for the vulnerable.

People and animals brave this unpredictable ocean...

..risking it all for rich rewards.

This is the Atlantic,

the wildest ocean on Earth.

It's January in the far north of the Atlantic,

off the coast of Arctic Norway.

The air temperature is ten degrees below freezing.

The land is lifeless, locked in ice.

But, beneath the surface of the ocean, the water is stirring.

Billions of herring have arrived from the open ocean to spawn.

And their presence attracts giants.

Humpback whales.

Massive fin whales.

Hundreds of orcas.

Animals travel hundreds, even thousands of miles,

for this once a year event,

a feast that will last for just a few weeks.

This extraordinary gathering is only possible because of

one of the planet's most powerful forces,

a force whose origin lies half a world away

from these Norwegian waters...

..the Gulf Stream...

..an underwater current of warm water 50 miles wide

that cuts through the ocean for thousands of miles.

The Gulf Stream shapes all life in the North Atlantic,

from the Arctic to the Caribbean.

The Gulf Stream is driven by winds and it begins here,

where the open ocean meets the reefs of the Caribbean Sea.

Sheltering here are animals that will soon travel

to the Arctic, on the same journey as the great current.

WHALE SONG

Every winter, these reefs, north of the Dominican Republic,

are filled with the song of humpback whales.

WHALE SONG

WHALE SONG CONTINUES

This female humpback came here this time last year to mate.

11 months later, she's returned because these waters are warm

and calm, sheltered by the surrounding reefs.

The perfect place to have her baby.

This calf was born just a few days ago,

weighing in at a healthy one tonne.

For now, while his mother rests,

the calf explores his new world.

But he's so young that he tires easily.

He'll need to be a much stronger swimmer

before he can leave this sanctuary.

His mother lifts him to the surface to breathe.

There's very little food here for the mother to eat,

so she won't be able to produce milk for much longer.

Soon they will have to leave.

There are many dangers ahead -

orca attack, collisions with ships.

His mother's back is lined with scars from a boat propeller.

But the young calf faces an even more immediate threat

from a very dangerous animal.

Male humpbacks come here every year, looking for a chance to mate.

They compete amongst themselves for access to the females.

Their rivalry can be very dangerous.

Some females in these waters are looking for a mate,

but not this mother, with her vulnerable young calf.

If she doesn't shake off the testosterone charged males,

the calf could be crushed to death in a scrum of 30-tonne bodies.

The males chase her down, jostling to get into position

to try and mate with her.

The calf struggles to keep up.

The mother guides her calf up for a breath

and uses her body as a block to protect him from the males.

The males become more aggressive as they battle for access.

Five metre long fins, edged with sharp barnacles,

are swung like clubs.

Their bodies can be weapons too.

A breach can severely wound a rival,

or crush a calf caught up in the fight.

The calf is exhausted.

But finally his mother, who's bigger and stronger than the males,

gets her message across.

The males move on.

The calf is now six weeks old.

His mother has done well to keep him safe this far

but her energy supplies are dwindling.

She needs to leave the breeding grounds and head north.

Fortunately, her baby's diet of around 200 litres of milk a day,

coupled with lots of play time, have built his strength.

Now he, too, is strong enough to breach.

He's ready to face the open ocean.

His mother leads him away from the nursery.

They're headed to the fertile waters of Norway's distant shores.

It's a journey they must embark on.

The great Gulf Stream will help carry them on their way.

The Gulf Stream is driven by winds which blow across the ocean,

pushing water before them.

From the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, the winds blow north,

driving the current towards the United States.

Off the Florida coast,

the Gulf Stream grows in strength as it's squeezed against the land.

Just offshore from the beaches of Miami flows a current

100 times greater than all the world's rivers combined.

And it's a busy highway, packed with giants.

Thousands of three-metre long bluefin tuna

hitch a ride every spring,

travelling north from the Gulf of Mexico

to their summer hunting grounds.

Swordfish, marlin and their cousins sailfish also jump on board.

The sailfishes' thousand-mile summer migration

takes about a month.

But unlike the whales, they find something to eat along the way.

This floating mat of sargassum seaweed

is a perfect place to find food.

Sargassum gives its name to a nearby sea, the Sargasso -

a huge region at the heart of the Atlantic...

..where sailors fear to travel

because of stories of ships trapped forever in huge mats of the weed.

In reality, these floating islands provide food and shelter

for hundreds of small fish...

..and that makes them a rich hunting ground.

Sailfish can sprint at up to 60mph,

able to chase down the fastest prey.

How they catch their prey has only recently been discovered.

The sailfish uses its long bill to flick a fish out from the shore...

..throwing it off balance before striking.

The Gulf Stream and the winds that blow it

aren't just relied upon by wildlife.

CREW SHOUT

People have used the Gulf Stream winds for hundreds of years.

We're going home!

When Christopher Columbus set foot on the New World in 1492,

he opened up a world of opportunities.

For hundreds of years,

treasures and natural riches were shipped back and forth

across the Atlantic,

driving the colonisation of America

and changing the course of human history.

And none of that could have happened without the Gulf Stream winds...

From the Caribbean, the winds push the current north

and then east towards Europe

with such consistency that sailors could rely on them

to cross thousands of miles of ocean.

Even today, sailors use this ancient trading route.

CREW SHOUT

The crew of this Dutch ship use the winds to ship rum,

chocolate and coffee beans from the Caribbean back to Amsterdam.

The Tres Hombres has no engine.

She's entirely reliant on winds and currents,

so the crew have to respond to every change in the breeze.

Everybody ready?

Standby on the breakers.

Standby on the main.

The crew work in shifts,

12 hours out of every 24.

It's hard work,

but it has its rewards...

You feel very connected to nature

because you constantly feel the waves on the ship...

You feel the wind when you're on deck.

It's the dolphins visiting you.

You feel exactly what your ancestors felt.

The same waves, the same winds.

So it's beautiful.

CREW SHOUT

But as in ancient times,

harnessing the Atlantic's natural power

means putting your life on the line.

WAVES CRASH

Over the centuries,

more than 600 ships have been wrecked

along just one short stretch of America's Atlantic coast,

where the Gulf Stream flows perilously close to land.

The treacherous sand banks off the barrier islands of North Carolina

are known as the graveyard of the Atlantic.

But there may have been some survivors from the wrecks here...

No-one's certain how they got here,

but many believe that their ancestors made it to shore

from shipwrecked galleons of Spanish conquistadors.

HORSE NEIGHS

For the last 500 years,

horses descended from Spanish stock

have lived completely wild on these islands.

Today, the fertile grasses of the salt marshes

support over 100 horses...

..once domesticated, now completely wild.

They live in small groups of mares and foals,

over which stallions battle for access.

But these horses face a critical challenge.

The water that surrounds them is too salty to drink.

To quench their thirst, they must first dig.

HORSES LAP UP WATER

NEIGHING

These horses are survivors.

They'll even swim between islands in search of fresh grazing.

Marooned for centuries on this Atlantic outpost,

these Spanish horses are a living reminder

of the role the Gulf Stream's played in human history.

Offshore from the barrier islands,

the Gulf Stream's helped to carry these humpbacks

for over a thousand miles from the Caribbean.

This mother and calf have joined forces with a male,

perhaps to give them some protection

against the increasing threat from orcas.

HISSING

They have done well to make it this far,

but the mother may not have eaten for six months

and her milk won't last much longer.

Luckily, the Atlantic is about to deliver salvation.

As the Gulf Stream passes the northern United States,

a meeting of the waters

helps to drive an extraordinary transformation.

A cold current pushes down from the Arctic along the coast,

carrying icebergs with it.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

The mingling of the two currents

helps to bring nutrients to the surface,

sowing the seeds for an explosion of life.

Bluefin tuna are one of many Gulf Stream travellers

that end their summer migration off New England and eastern Canada...

..some of the richest seas on earth.

This rich stretch of ocean also supports seabirds in their millions

and huge numbers of marine mammals.

GULLS CRY

Harp seals travel together on the hunt for fish.

Every spring, these fertile seas turn into a rich green soup

across hundreds of miles

as billions of tiny plants burst into life.

A plankton bloom.

Individually, these plants are too small for the naked eye to see,

but in such huge numbers,

they are the basis for these incredibly rich seas.

Tiny animals feed on the tiny plants.

These in turn are preyed on by even larger animals...

and so on, up the food chain.

Any animal or plant that can't swim against the current

is called plankton.

Most of these are tiny...

but this fertile region can provide enough food

for the colossus of the plankton world...

This is a lion's mane...

..the largest jellyfish in the world.

Its body alone can be wider than a man is tall.

Its stinger-covered tentacles can be longer than a blue whale,

catching anything from tiny shrimps to fish to other jellyfish.

This is a creature most would go out of their way to avoid...

..but one remarkable animal swims all the way from the Caribbean

to southern Canada in search of it.

In the waters off the island of Nova Scotia,

people are on the lookout for these mysterious ocean predators.

Zoologist Mike James and boatman Blair Fricker

have worked to study and protect these animals for 16 years.

But to study them, they first have to find them.

We start watching, just start looking.

Sometimes we see one of them on a nice day, never see them again.

You can't believe that he got away from you.

Blair and Mike are searching for a giant of its kind.

But just because it's giant,

doesn't make it easy to find.

I think I just saw him. Two o'clock.

Right there. See where I'm pointing?

-Yep.

-Definitely him.

Yes, get your net ready.

Oh, she's taking a pretty good turn, there. There she goes.

The problem is they're not staying,

they're just coming up for breath and really trucking along.

-A few jellies, eh?

-All done?

'Have you seen any more?'

Nah, it's been a while.

There he is, just under the surface. He's come up again, I think.

Success at last.

This is an animal that takes a lot of skill

and strength to bring on board without doing it harm.

-The best to do is get her in head first.

-Hang on!

The leatherback turtle.

At up to 900kg in weight,

this is the largest sea turtle in the world.

Mike estimates that over 1,000 turtles

come to Canadian waters every year.

He's tagged over 300

so they can be identified if they're caught again.

She's really big.

Every turtle gets measured.

148.2.

The longest ever recorded is nearly twice as long as this one.

So that's a metre plus around the neck.

Leatherbacks have a crucial advantage over other,

smaller sea turtles.

Unusually for reptiles,

they can generate body heat

which their huge bulk helps them to retain.

That means they can swim beyond the warm Gulf Stream

and deep into the bountiful northern seas.

And Mike has recently revealed

what the leatherbacks get up to in the murky depths.

He's fitted small cameras to the backs of some of his turtles.

SPLASHING

Leatherbacks have excellent eyesight,

helping them track down the lion's manes in the green plankton soup.

But jellyfish are mostly water.

A big animal needs to eat a lot of them to survive

and Mike has discovered that turtles feed from dawn to dusk,

eating nearly three quarters of their own body weight in jellyfish

every day all through the summer.

These giant reptiles thrive here

because of the incredibly fertile seas

that the Gulf Stream has helped to create.

And that fertility also sustains huge numbers

of a more familiar sea creature.

The waters off New England

and eastern Canada are incredibly rich in fish.

But today, these sand eels are in the wrong place

at the wrong time...

Out of the murk,

a stream of bubbles begins to surround the shoal.

The panicking fish gather even tighter together.

Beneath the shoal,

a scream louder than a jet engine

pierces the water,

-driving the fish upwards.

-PIERCING UNDERWATER SCREAM

The net of bubbles draws tighter

as the predator rises around the fish in a spiral.

SCREAM CONTINUES

It's the humpbacks.

After up to six months of fasting,

they're making the most of their chance to feed.

Humpbacks are the only animal that traps its prey in a bubble net.

The whales have a mouth full of giant strips of baleen...

..a fingernail-like material.

They gulp in huge mouthfuls of seawater and fish...

..then force the water back out through the baleen sieve,

trapping the fish inside.

WHALES SNORT

Across a huge stretch of the ocean,

hundreds of whales gather to gorge themselves.

There is so much to eat here

that the whales can put on enough fat over the summer months

to last them the whole year.

But not all of the humpbacks that set off from the Caribbean

end their migration off the North American coast.

Some swim much further, heading for even greater riches

on the far side of the Atlantic,

where the Gulf Stream is also heading.

Off the northern coasts of America,

the winds begin to blow due east.

That pushes the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic towards Europe.

As it leaves America, the Gulf Stream is up to ten degrees warmer

than the sea just to the north.

The warm current warms the air above it,

which creates a difference in air pressure,

leading to even stronger winds.

This helps whip up the notorious rough seas of the North Atlantic.

As well as creating turbulent weather,

the Gulf Stream once again drives life.

The flow of the current churns nutrients up from the seafloor

and enriches the North Atlantic,

creating a feast for seabirds.

Gannets fly hundreds of miles on their fishing trips.

They hit the water at up to 50mph.

They swim down as much as 20 metres in pursuit of their prey.

GANNETS CRY

There are rich rewards to be had in this fertile ocean...

..but misjudge the conditions out here

and the Atlantic's power can destroy you.

And that goes for everything

and everyone.

WAVES CRASH

All around the ocean,

from Canada, Iceland, France and the British Isles...

..men and women brave the elements

and head out to harvest the seas.

Scottish skipper Davie Milne has been fishing the Atlantic

for 35 years

and is still in awe of its power.

I've a great respect for the sea.

We're in just like a bath tub, really,

compared with the Atlantic Ocean.

It's massive.

Davie is skippering his bath tub into waters he knows well,

but he still makes use of the latest sonar and radar

to help find the fish

and keep an eye on what the elements have in store.

The weather comes from the west, brought by the same winds that blow

the warm Gulf Stream waters over from the Americas.

Davie and his crew of six seek out the places where the current

drives the nutrients most strongly to the surface,

creating the most fertile fishing grounds.

But fishing these rich waters is a very dangerous job.

MEN SHOUT

Trawlermen lose their lives every year out here.

For Davie and his crew,

it's a daily battle

with one of the most hostile environments on earth.

Go, go, go, go!

WIND DROWNS OUT SHOUTING

Winds blowing over 2,000 miles of ocean

build up towering Atlantic swirls,

taller than a house.

But for these fishermen,

this is just a typical day at the office.

WIND HOWLS

Davie fights to keep the boat steady...

..while a massive net, filled with up to 15 tonnes of fish,

is hauled in by the men on deck.

The catch is mostly haddock, with the occasional huge cod.

Trawlermen have to work to strict quotas,

while arguments rage about how much fish they should be taking.

Today, though, they'll be lucky to take any more fish at all.

Off the cast of Canada,

a storm has swept down from the Arctic.

The spiral of storm clouds has been blown towards Europe,

whipping up the seas.

As the swell builds,

the skipper starts to monitor the western horizon more closely.

Davie will soon have a decision to make.

When do conditions get too dangerous to carry on fishing?

You've always to be mindful you've men's lives in your hands basically.

It only takes one bad lump of sea and you're gone.

Stronger winds mean bigger waves.

Seamen have a way to describe how rough the sea is -

they call it the sea state.

You'll usually get rough, very rough or high

and then you get phenomenal.

And phenomenal's phenomenal! HE LAUGHS

The storm has grown very quickly,

the winds reaching hurricane strength by mid-Atlantic.

Powerful storms that form this fast are called weather bombs

and they can catch fishermen off-guard.

WAVE CRASHES

This is rough even by trawlermen standards.

Davie knows there are masses of fish right beneath him,

but he has to weigh up the risks of staying out.

He decides to turn back.

Turning side-on to the waves is just about the most dangerous

manoeuvre a boat can make.

And that's when your seamanship comes in - you make a decision,

and you make the decision and it's got to be right

because there's no room for error.

Davie's ship isn't the only one heading home

through the gathering storm.

As the trawlermen make it to the shelter of their harbour,

the storm crashes into the coastline.

WAVES CRASH

Through autumn and winter, storms batter Europe.

Nowhere feels their force more than the coast of Ireland.

Reaching up to over 200 metres, the Cliffs of Moher are pummelled

by over 1,000 tonnes of water in every wave.

If you could harness the energy of just one storm,

it could power the whole of the UK for the winter.

But no-one's come close to harnessing this.

Storms bring destruction on a huge scale,

but churning seas bring up nutrients which drive huge summer

plankton blooms, crucial for the marine life of the British Isles.

Ten metre-long basking sharks swim up from the depths of the ocean.

The second largest fish in the world, they feed on nothing

but tiny plankton.

Seabirds thrive, breeding in their millions.

Puffins flock in from the open ocean,

where they've spent the winter.

They raise their young on cliff-top burrows,

fishing by day in the fertile seas.

PUFFINS PEEP

Today's meal is a beakful of sprats.

And there's plenty of food, too, for travellers who brave

the stormy Atlantic crossing.

Some of the humpback whales that spent the winter in the Caribbean

feed off the coast of Ireland in the summer.

The Gulf Stream helps to whip up the storms

that makes these waters so rich,

but the great current also brings warmth.

As it approaches Europe, the Gulf Stream splits.

Part of the warm water flows south towards Africa

but the rest, now known as the North Atlantic Current,

flows north, past the shores of Europe.

The sea off the British Isles is ten degrees warmer

than at the same latitude on the other side of the Atlantic.

So animals thrive here that are usually more at home further south.

Like the pink sea fan

and the European cuttlefish.

These close relatives of squid

and octopus breed in the waters off Southern England every summer.

The warm current is now thought to have less influence on land

temperatures in the British Isles than people used to believe,

adding, perhaps, just a degree or two to winter temperatures,

but further north, it has a significant effect.

Norway is five to ten degrees warmer than other places at the same

latitude because of a combination of the ocean current

and the warm westerly winds that have blown with it

across the Atlantic.

Those winds are no longer the only thing driving the current as it

flows on even further north,

far beyond the Arctic Circle to the edge of the frozen Arctic Ocean.

At the edge of the ice,

a strange process takes place that draws the current up here.

As the seawater freezes, it squeezes out its salt,

making the unfrozen water around it extremely saline.

This super salty water is heavier, so it sinks towards the seabed,

setting up a circulation as the warmer water from the Gulf

Stream is sucked in to replace it.

Everywhere else in the Arctic, the sea freezes over in winter,

but here the Gulf Stream's warmth keeps a vast

expanse of the North Atlantic ice-free all year round.

This combination of nutrient-rich water and unfrozen sea creates

the arena for one of the earth's great wildlife spectacles.

It's January and over a billion herring have gathered to

spawn off the coast of Norway.

It's a feast for any predator that can reach it.

For the humpback whales, it's a reward for their 5,000-mile

swim across the Atlantic.

Humpbacks can't get to most of the Arctic at winter.

They can't travel beneath the ice because they need to breathe.

Here, the Gulf Stream has opened up rich hunting grounds,

though catching the fish isn't easy.

The whales struggle to surround and bubble net such a huge mass of fish.

And now, the humpbacks' deadliest enemy enters the fray.

Hundreds of orcas swim in from the open ocean,

moving in pods up to 30 strong.

But these deadly predators are not here to eat humpbacks.

They're after the fish.

ORCAS WHISTLE

And they have an extraordinary technique for catching them.

First, they must work as a team,

coordinating their movements using clicks and whistles.

ORCAS CLICK

They break off a section of the mega-shoal

into a more manageable ball.

Some whales circle the herring,

herding them together,

while others swim deep and push

the ball of fish up towards the surface.

The water boils with herring, desperate to escape their fate.

It's now the orcas deploy their heavy weaponry.

A six-tonne orca slaps its tail with awesome destructive power.

Under the water, tail slaps are used to stun the herring.

Some fish come too quickly and escape back

to the safety of the shoal.

But most are picked off by the orcas one-by-one.

Soon the water glitters with fish scales as the orcas

methodically consume the ball of fish.

By breaking up the herring into a smaller shoal,

the orcas have done the humpbacks a favour,

turning the usual relationship between the animals on its head.

Everywhere else on earth, orcas are the humpbacks' biggest enemy,

but here, the humpbacks cash in on the colossal fish supper.

And the humpbacks aren't the only ones to gatecrash the orcas' party.

Massive fin whales, 80 foot long,

can swallow 3,000 herring in a single gulp.

Deadly enemies feed side-by-side.

A unique scene only possible here

because of the warmth of the Gulf Stream.

For just a few weeks,

the humpbacks will eat their fill before the herring move on.

It's a wonderful spectacle but its future is hard to predict.

As our climate warms, more

and more fresh water flows into the Atlantic from Greenland's ice caps.

This makes the sea less salty.

And there are signs that the salinity-driven circulation

which draws the warm current north may be slowing down.

But for now, at the end of the feeding season,

the whales begin their long journey south back to the Caribbean

and the cycle of their lives will begin again.

Lives that are shaped by the awesome power of the Gulf Stream.

A driving force for life throughout the rich

northern seas of the Atlantic.

It's January in the Norwegian town of Andenes,

far above the Arctic Circle.

Offshore, one of nature's great spectacles is about to

unfold as hundreds of whales gather to gorge themselves.

But as the camera team test their equipment,

they realise just how hard it's going to be to operate here.

Director Lucy Wells is particularly worried about the lack of light.

Actual filming time, we may get an hour a day at the moment, um...

which isn't very much and potentially could be quite frustrating

because if there's lots going on and it's too dark, there is

nothing we can do, we can't film anything.

The other big challenge will be the cold.

With temperatures well below freezing,

hypothermia and freezing scuba equipment are very real dangers.

The team are particularly keen to film orcas feeding.

And within an hour of leaving shore,

they get lucky and make first contact.

The orcas are herding the herring shoal into a ball,

exactly what the team were after.

Wow.

With just an hour's daylight, the crew rush to get in the water.

-Go in.

-Go?

-Yes.

Wow! They're everywhere!

Day one, and already the team have their first shots of the orcas.

And soon, the orcas have company.

Oh, this humpback's just... coming close, look how close he is.

Here you get two whale species for the price of one.

And it looks like the humpbacks are following the orcas around.

The team are thrilled.

This has never been filmed before.

The humpbacks seem to take advantage of the orcas' herding skills.

Whoo!

A great start.

But the team soon realise that the humpbacks' presence might not

be such a good thing after all.

Their main goal is to film the amazing herding

and tail-slapping behaviour that the orcas here use to catch herring.

But every time the team find feeding orcas...

the humpbacks soon turn up...

..and drive the orcas away.

Despite the team's best efforts, the humpbacks have become a pest

and show up again...

..and again.

It's a challenge for cameraman, David Reichert.

We're seeing humpbacks going back and forth all the time down there

but just not seeing the feeding event.

This soon becomes a big problem for the team.

Any moment, the herring could leave, followed by the orcas,

and the team's mission will be a failure.

1:10. I reckon the latest we can go is probably 1:45.

So that's not really much time at all,

and so far today we haven't got anything.

With morale already low, something happens that reminds the team

just how dangerous it can be to dive here in midwinter.

One of the divers gives the signal to be picked up.

Something is very wrong.

It's PB, the second underwater cameraman.

And he's clearly struggling.

Ow.

It's every diver's worst fear.

His breathing equipment has frozen, starving him of air.

If that had happened deeper underwater,

it could have been fatal.

The problem is quickly sorted out but the team is shaken.

The only camera that is getting close to the orcas

is the team's mini helicopter.

But with the team's current run of bad luck,

they should have foreseen some trouble.

Thomas, the pilot, skilfully flies the helicopter

straight into the smallest sign in the harbour.

He is mortified.

Luckily, the rest of the team see the funny side...

THEY LAUGH

..and mount a rescue mission.

You can see the propellers moving around.

I don't want to find out.

We will have a nice funeral!

SHE LAUGHS

It was my toy!

I'm going home.

Morale is good but the team have now lost the only camera

that was filming any orcas.

The divers are going to need some luck.

Quite a lot of action in front of us, guys.

We have just come across a group of orcas,

no humpbacks, which is a good thing.

It's... Dare I say it?

..looking encouraging, but so far every kind of good situation

we've come across that, on the top side, we thought is amazing,

they've come up, and it hasn't been good for them.

It's a tense wait.

Come on!

But today, everything happens on cue.

The cameras start rolling and finally the team capture the amazing

behaviour they came here to film.

It is magical.

The herring ball powers above you.

The scales of the herring catch the light

and they just flicker like diamonds.

And then the orcas move up to them and push them, gently

nudge this ball up to the surface...

..where they kind of pin it up there and then they come in and attack.

This is one of the most spectacular natural events I've ever seen.

Good.

Job done.

Yes!

Thank God!

They've had to overcome some very tough conditions,

but through perseverance and a bit of good luck, they've managed to

document one of the most remarkable scenes in the whole of the Atlantic.

From a surface feeding frenzy to the crushing depths of the abyss,

meet the strange animals of the world's longest mountain range,

far beneath the surface,

and discover the origin of the world's youngest ocean.