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In this series, we have explored
the Earth's frozen frontiers.

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We have celebrated the astonishing
variety of animals

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that are found there.

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And revealed the extraordinary ways
by which they manage to survive.

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At a time when our icecaps are
melting faster than ever before,

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we will meet the scientists
and people who are dedicating

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their lives to protecting
our frozen planet.

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And striving to turn things around
while there is still time

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to do so.

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It won't be easy, but it's doable.

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It's crucial...

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..that we try to understand
what the impact will be,

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not just for the wildlife and the
people that live there,

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but for you and for me.

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We start our journey in the high
Arctic and the vast frozen

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expanse of Greenland.

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This huge island is blanketed
by the largest store of ice

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in the northern hemisphere.

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But now it's shrinking.

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Professor Alun Hubbard is
a glaciologist, and he's spent

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over 30 years studying the movement
of ice along Greenland's coastline.

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It is a beast of a glacier, that
it's just growling constantly.

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Thundering in the background.

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Oh, there we go,
bit of activity.

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Carving icebergs is
a natural process,

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but what we've seen in the last
20 years is there's

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been much more melt.

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And much more ice carving off,
producing huge icebergs.

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So it's quite an intimidating
place to be hanging out.

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One thing in particular
has caused this increase

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in melting and carving...

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We put this weather station
here in 2010.

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And the hottest temperature
was two days ago.

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At 22.37 degrees centigrade.

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That is very,
very hot for Greenland.

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As the ice falls into the ocean,
it raises sea levels globally.

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These are now rising by an average
of four millimetres a year.

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A quarter of that comes
from the Greenland ice sheet.

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And scientists fear that this figure
could increase rapidly.

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To investigate, Alun has travelled
70 miles inland

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to the top of the ice sheet,
where the glaciers

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start their lives as compacted snow
more than a mile thick.

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Here, the effects of a warming
climate are only too clear.

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There are thousands of these
beautiful azure blue lakes,

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littered across the surface
of the ice sheet.

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The surface has always melted in the
summer, but not on this scale.

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And Alun wants to know what
effect the increase in meltwater

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is having on the ice sheet
as a whole.

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The sheer quantity of water...

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..shifting through the system
is crazy.

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Powerful torrents of meltwater
are boring shafts

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known as moulins into the ice sheet.

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This is nuts, this a moulin
actively being formed.

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A moulin in Genesis.

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As we speak, that water is finding
the path of least resistance,

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sculpting this shaft that's
going deep into the ice.

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And here it is.

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Just toppling over a waterfall edge
and dropping into the ice sheet.

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But where is all this meltwater
going and what impact

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is it having on the structure
of the ice sheet?

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To find out, Alun decides to climb
inside a dried up moulin.

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Think it must be 15, 20
metres down here?

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I'm going to go down a bit further.

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It's a very narrow shaft here.

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It's always been assumed that the
meltwater drains straight

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down and out of the bottom
of the ice sheet.

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But what Alun discovers
is very different.

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I can hear a big amount of water
moving in this system.

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And the water's starting to spread
sideways, laterally.

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So the drainage system
is obviously complex.

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It's interlinked.

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These observations suggest
that the meltwater is branching out

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in every direction, causing
this once rigid

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structure to destabilise.

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Whoa, it's a bit rotten.

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Everything is rotten here.

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The implications
of this are frightening.

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Alun believes that as the ice sheet
begins to thaw, it's sliding

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towards the ocean at a much
faster rate.

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And he's now confirmed that using
time lapse photography.

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The ice at the front can be moving
in excess of 20 metres a day.

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Which is fast.

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That is a huge quantity of ice
straight into the ocean.

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Some of Greenland's glaciers are
moving three times faster today

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than they were 30 years ago.

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As the climate's warming, the rate
at which this ice sheet flows

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is absolutely critical.

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So whereas at the moment
we're thinking this thing

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is going to take thousands of years
to melt and disintegrate.

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If it does move faster and
accelerate, it means centuries.

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That is a really contentious
and very important question

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because this ice sheet has enough
water in it to raise global sea

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level by over seven metres.

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And that's a total disaster
for humanity.

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Calculations predict that nearly
half a billion people living

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in coastal communities around
the world will be displaced

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by flooding by the end
of the century.

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But if the Greenland ice sheet slips
into the ocean more rapidly,

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this could all happen far sooner.

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Greenland isn't the only large body
of ice in the Arctic.

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In winter, the ocean here freezes
over, creating a cover of ice

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larger than the entire
United States.

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This sea ice has always got
smaller in summer, but today

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it's rapidly disappearing.

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Hotter temperatures are melting
it at an unprecedented rate.

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With worrying consequences
for the wildlife

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that depends on it.

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For harp seals, the sea ice
is an excellent place

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for giving birth out of the water.

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It provides the defenceless
newborn pups with a safe space

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for their first six weeks
until they're big enough

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to swim proficiently.

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But with the sea ice disappearing
increasingly fast...

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..will they be able to adapt?

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Coastguard 432...

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Coastguard radio, coastguard 432.

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In Canada's Gulf of St Lawrence,
a group of seal biologists

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are trying to find out.

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It's a pretty dangerous,
pretty inhospitable place.

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But it's the perfect environment
for these seals to spend the first

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few weeks of their lives.

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There's a group just down here
to the right, now.

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But the fragile sea ice
is a challenging place

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in which to work.

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Here, let's go a little further out.

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To support a two tonne helicopter,
the ice must be at least

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30 centimetres thick.

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And the only way to find out
if that's so, is with a drill.

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It's just unsafe here.

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There's a couple just down here
below us now.

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We've got a pretty short
window here.

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The team are trying to discover
where the seals go

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when they become independent.

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This is a juvenile harp seal.

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This is exactly what we've been out
on the ice trying to find.

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Hey, little guy.

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They're absolutely beautiful.

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We'll be putting a satellite
transmitter on the top

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of this animal's head so that every
time the animal comes

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to the surface, we can get
a location estimate

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for where he is at sea.

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It won't harm them in any way,
and in return,

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the amount of information we get
from them is invaluable.

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We're really interested to see
where these animals go,

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as the ice starts to break up over
the coming months.

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The results from the study
so far do not look encouraging.

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Despite migrating huge distances,
when the time comes to have pups

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of their own, harp seals almost
always return to the area where

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they themselves were born.

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But as the sea ice shrinks, so does
its Suitability as a nursery.

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The problem really comes
about if the only ice available

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in the traditional areas
is very thin.

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They'll still use that ice and then
you get an increased mortality.

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In short, the pups risk drowning
if the ice isn't thick enough.

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And the bigger question
is will the ice continue

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to exist at all?

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In my lifetime, we've lost about
two thirds of the summer

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sea ice in the Arctic.

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And it's likely that in the next
30 years we're going to end

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up with an ice free Arctic
in the summer.

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I think one of the issues
with climate change

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is that it's really
difficult to see.

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But in the case of harp seals,
it's really quite simple.

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If we lose the sea ice in the
Arctic, we lose the harp seals.

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For harp seals, their future,
it has to be said,

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appears uncertain.

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But what about the most famous
face of climate change...

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..the polar bear?

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Can this keenly intelligent animal
adapt to a rapidly changing world?

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As the summer sea ice melts away,
many polar bears

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are forced to head for dry land.

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Some swim up to 400 miles
to get there.

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This is Wrangel...

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A remote island in Arctic Russia.

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HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

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Without the sea ice, the hungry
bears cannot hunt seals and feed

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on their calorie rich flesh,
but find other sources of food,

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including human food supplies.

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Each summer, Gennadiy is joined
by polar bear expert

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Dr Eric Regehr.

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We need to cross that ridge. OK.

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Eric wants to find out just how many
bears are ending up here.

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In 20 years of studying polar bears,
I've never been anywhere

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like Wrangel Island.

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The density of bears is unlike
anything I've ever seen before.

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This past two years,
we've seen about 500 bears.

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My sense is that's just
a fraction of how many are here.

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BEARS GROWL

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But with so many hungry
animals in one place...

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..is there enough food to go round?

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Gennadiy, if you can keep an eye
out for us, please,

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like, up on the hill or just
wherever you've got a good view.

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All right. Thank you.

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This is a hair trap.

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So bears like anything
that smells strong,

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and so this has a little bit
of spoiled cheese,

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milk and fish in it.

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So the goal here is to get
a polar bear to come in

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and put his hand or its head
inside this box.

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And when that happens, these little
wire brushes will pull out a few

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pieces of hair that we can use
for scientific analyses.

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You can learn a lot about
polar bears just from

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a piece of their hair.

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We can figure out which individual
it is, or you can get

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information on what they're eating.

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There we go.

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Hair collected.

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Eric's molecular studies
of the polar bears' hair shows

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that the bears on Wrangel appear
to be finding enough food.

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But with more and more bears
coming here,

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will there still be enough
food to go round?

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One of the main things we expect
to happen with sea ice loss

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is changes in the movements
and the distribution of polar bears.

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So polar bears are going to appear
in places they never were before,

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00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,800
and they're going to disappear
from places that they were.

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Some coastal towns in Siberia have
been overrun with up to

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50 bears at a time.

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BEARS GROWL

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They're desperate to eat
whatever they can.

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And in the city of Norilsk,

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one female was found an incredible
250 miles away from the coast.

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Lost and starving,

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she was eventually rescued.

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But many are not so lucky.

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They are intelligent animals,
but there's simply no food on land

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that could compare to the seals
that the bears eat on the sea ice.

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A future without polar bears
would be very sad.

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But the sea ice is not
just essential for animals.

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It's a lifeline for many of
the four million people

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00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,320
who call the Arctic their home.

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Aleqatsiaq Peary lives in Qaanaaq
on Greenland's west coast,

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the most northerly Inuit town
in the world.

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For centuries, life here
has depended on the sea ice.

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Not only are dog sleds a way
to reach neighbouring communities,

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which can be over 100 miles away,

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but in a land where no crops can
grow travelling over the sea ice

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is a vital route to food,
fur and livelihood.

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But the dwindling of the sea ice
is making this way of life

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not only difficult,
but increasingly dangerous.

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Today, they must turn back.

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For Qaanaaq's 650 residents

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the loss of sea ice is the loss
of an entire way of life,

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and it is creating
an uncertain future.

244
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,320
And there's a reason for this
accelerating rate of change.

245
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:24,840
In the last 30 years,
over 14 trillion tons of ice

246
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:29,720
have been lost from the Arctic,
creating a vicious cycle

247
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,080
of ever-increasing temperatures.

248
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:39,480
Normally, large areas of snow
and ice would act as a mirror,

249
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,640
reflecting up to 85% of
the sun's rays back into space.

250
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:51,400
But as the ice melts, the great
white mirror is being replaced

251
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,840
by the darkness
of the ice-free ocean.

252
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:01,120
The dark ocean absorbs
the sun's rays, so causing

253
00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:05,800
even more ice to melt, creating
a feedback loop that contributes

254
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:07,880
to further warming.

255
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:17,000
Because of this, the Arctic is now
warming more than twice as fast

256
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:18,960
as the Earth as a whole.

257
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:27,840
That has far-reaching consequences
not just for the Arctic Ocean,

258
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,960
but for the vast frozen lands
that surround it -

259
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,840
the tundra.

260
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,800
In summer, the open tundra
provides refuge for

261
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,920
great concentrations of life.

262
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:58,280
But today its thick surface soil
that has been deeply frozen

263
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,720
for thousands of years is thawing.

264
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,520
And the pooling water is creating
millions of new lakes.

265
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:16,520
Here in Alaska, we've seen
a 40% increase in the lake area

266
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,000
since the '80s.

267
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,560
Professor Katy Walter Anthony
has worked across Alaska

268
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,200
and Siberia studying their lakes.

269
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,800
She is interested not so much
in the lakes themselves,

270
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,040
but in what is seeping out of them.

271
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,240
We are seeing a bright spot
in the satellite image

272
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:40,520
that we suspect is gas bubbling.

273
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,680
To identify the gas
in these bubbles,

274
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,160
Katy must collect some of it.

275
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,960
I'm surrounded by tiny bubbles
that are rising.

276
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,400
Methane appears to be
the dominant gas.

277
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,720
Methane is produced by the decaying
remains of prehistoric

278
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,120
plants and animals.

279
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,800
As the frozen soil beneath
the lake starts to thaw,

280
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,480
it releases stores of
this potent greenhouse gas,

281
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:21,160
which is up to 30 times more
effective than carbon dioxide

282
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,400
when it comes to trapping heat
in the atmosphere and

283
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,640
accelerating global warming.

284
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,800
45 parts per million for
these tiny bubbles.

285
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,720
It's rising higher and higher.

286
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,720
Now it's going above 70.

287
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,440
This is a huge amount of methane.

288
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,520
It could be a mega-seep.

289
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,800
We are discovering more and more
of these methane mega-seeps.

290
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,480
It's just streaming out and
entering into the atmosphere.

291
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,360
Methane can be seen escaping
from lakes.

292
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,080
But it also rises from the land
wherever the frozen soil, known as

293
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,680
the permafrost, begins to thaw.

294
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:28,120
And the Arctic tundra is
thawing and collapsing

295
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,040
at an unprecedented rate.

296
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:37,360
It's concerning because permafrost,
or frozen ground,

297
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:42,560
occupies about a quarter of the
northern hemisphere land surface.

298
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,120
As permafrost thaws,
if even a small fraction

299
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,280
if that trapped methane escapes,

300
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:55,280
it will accelerate climate warming

301
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:56,800
and you cannot reverse it.

302
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:09,440
It's clear that in the Arctic
changes to permafrost on the land

303
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,840
and floating ice on the sea
will have far-reaching consequences

304
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,080
to the planet as a whole.

305
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,080
And there is nowhere better
to see the extent of

306
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:22,600
these global changes...

307
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:26,840
..than from space.

308
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:34,560
All of my life, I've thought
about how this would feel to gaze

309
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,160
back on the planet with my own eyes.

310
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,960
Nasa scientist Jessica Meir
has spent six months in orbit.

311
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:49,160
From the space station, you have
the planet spinning beneath you.

312
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:53,080
And you're passing over it
at 17,500 miles per hour.

313
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:59,200
We are going around the entire
planet every 90 minutes,

314
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,080
so you can begin to see
larger-scale phenomenon

315
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,560
in ways that you just can't
experience on the ground.

316
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,600
And we can see the change
in these systems over time.

317
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,080
We cannot deny that we are having
an incredible effect on

318
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:16,840
the fate of our planet.

319
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,720
And the effect that we have
as humans on our planet...

320
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:26,560
Right there, actually,
I'm looking down at several fires.

321
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,640
I'm not sure where those are.

322
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,120
Let's take a quick peek.

323
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,360
So right now we're flying over
Europe and I can see

324
00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,800
some fires over in that direction.

325
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,400
And that is, of course, something
that we have to contend

326
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,360
more and more with
as our climate changes.

327
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:57,160
As the Arctic warms, wildfires
are not only getting more intense

328
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,320
but they're breaking out in parts
of the northern hemisphere

329
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,720
where they have never
occurred before.

330
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,640
FIRE BLAZES

331
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,280
SIRENS WAIL

332
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,760
Some scientists believe that
unusually warm air rising in

333
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,320
the Arctic is disturbing
high-altitude wind currents

334
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,480
like the polar jet stream.

335
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,640
Once disturbed, the jet stream
produces hotter and drier

336
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,920
conditions much further south.

337
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:40,760
All of these factors that contribute
to wildfires - the temperature,

338
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,840
the soil moisture, the presence
of trees and shrubs and other fuel -

339
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:49,200
have either strong, direct or
indirect ties to climate change.

340
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,960
A warming Arctic may not
only be responsible

341
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,160
for the outbreak of wildfires.

342
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,520
But it may also be leading
to extreme weather conditions

343
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,560
across the whole of
the northern hemisphere.

344
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,440
I've always cared so much about
the environment and known

345
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,760
that we all need to do our part
in protecting it.

346
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:22,000
But after seeing this view
with my own eyes, after seeing

347
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,120
all of those ecosystems
from up here, it really makes it

348
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,240
resonate even more loudly.

349
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:42,040
Outside the Arctic, there's another
frozen realm that stretches

350
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,680
across the world's continents.

351
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:46,440
Our high mountains.

352
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,960
Home to an extraordinary
array of species.

353
00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:33,280
But here, too, there's a problem.

354
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:43,240
Across the world, mountain glaciers,
which have existed for

355
00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:47,280
tens of thousands of years,
are shrinking and vanishing.

356
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,320
By the end of this century,
some ranges may have

357
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,760
no ice remaining at all.

358
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,800
And this will affect not
just animals, but people too.

359
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:20,000
Ice lost from the mountain glaciers
from the great ranges of the world

360
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,600
has a huge a consequence
for the populations downstream,

361
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:27,000
and that consequence is
their water supply.

362
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,920
Glaciers in the Himalayas are
the source of ten of the largest

363
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:39,640
rivers in Asia, which together
provide reliable, fresh water

364
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:42,400
for around a billion
people downstream.

365
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:49,200
If the glaciers disappear,
so too will the water they supply.

366
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,080
We know that these glaciers
are losing about a half a metre

367
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,560
of ice a year.

368
00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:00,600
What we don't know
is how much ice is left.

369
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,280
So if we know how many metres of ice
are left, we can work out how long

370
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,240
they'll last, how long this water
supply will keep going.

371
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,880
Dr Hamish Pritchard is part
of a team of scientists

372
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:19,080
who have devised a new instrument
to measure one of

373
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,680
the largest Himalayan glaciers.

374
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,400
What we're putting together here
is a long frame structure,

375
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:31,000
and it's designed to hang
underneath a helicopter.

376
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:35,760
We're going to put a radar on it
and the radar will send out

377
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,600
the radio waves and then
they'll bounce back off the bottom

378
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:43,800
of the glacier, and we'll be able
to measure how thick the ice is.

379
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:48,120
Once his team know how thick the ice
is, they can start to work out

380
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:49,760
how long it will last.

381
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:54,480
Yeah, it's a nervous moment.

382
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,120
We're just waiting for it to get
lifted off up for the first time.

383
00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,480
But hopefully it's going to be
nice, steady, stable,

384
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:00,920
a nice easy lift-off.

385
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:02,800
But we're about to find out.

386
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:09,880
That line is clear.

387
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,240
The load is lifting.

388
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,200
OK, it's north of the...

389
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:32,280
..to the Khumjung area.

390
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,680
Hi. It's Hamish here.
How was your flying?

391
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,240
Yeah, when the wind picks up
it's a little more squirrelly,

392
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:41,080
but no problems otherwise.

393
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,440
Yeah, you might want to gain
a little bit of height there.

394
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:45,840
Yeah, no problem.

395
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,080
OK, we'll fly out and then head
towards Everest.

396
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:05,480
After hours of scanning,
the projection for this particular

397
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:07,520
glacier is finally revealed.

398
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:13,880
Yeah, that's pretty nice and clear.

399
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,080
I can see exactly how thick
that ice is.

400
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,080
That's about 150 metres.

401
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:23,320
So at the current rate of melting,

402
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,080
this section would last maybe
200 to 300 years.

403
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,440
But we know that the melt rates
are increasing.

404
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:35,600
And this is one of
the biggest glaciers,

405
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,240
so there are many, many glaciers
which are much smaller than this

406
00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:40,640
with much thinner ice.

407
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,880
And they're going to be disappearing
much, much earlier than that.

408
00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:52,240
Water is already scarce
in parts of Asia.

409
00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:56,720
And as glacial water supplies
dry up, there will be

410
00:39:56,720 --> 00:39:58,280
even less to go round.

411
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,920
So what happens if these
glaciers disappear...

412
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,080
..is that, in dry summers,
the rivers dry up.

413
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:15,360
Tensions rise, especially
between nations that

414
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,400
share water across borders.

415
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,880
So one of the big risks of losing
this ice is that it raises

416
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:26,600
the risk of conflict.

417
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,680
And that's a frightening prospect.

418
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,600
If I have a one-year-old son.

419
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,880
Children born at the same time as
him will see this happen.

420
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,880
We need to act now to turn those
trajectories around.

421
00:40:56,120 --> 00:41:00,480
There's no doubt that large tracts
of our frozen wilderness

422
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,440
are undergoing dramatic changes.

423
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:07,400
But what about the largest body
of ice of all,

424
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:08,680
Antarctica?

425
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:18,280
We have already seen how even here
animals living around the fringes

426
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:21,960
are starting to be affected
by climate change,

427
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,080
including chinstrap penguins.

428
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:28,840
PENGUINS SQUAWK

429
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:37,240
But for another penguin,
the Adelie, the consequences

430
00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:38,920
are even more extreme.

431
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:52,360
I arrived here for
the first time in 1974.

432
00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:02,040
This part of the world was
just incomprehensibly wild.

433
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:06,920
It was filled with life.

434
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,280
Antarctica absolutely captured me.

435
00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:26,400
Professor Bill Fraser has dedicated
his entire 45-year career

436
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:28,640
to studying the Adelie penguin.

437
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,760
What really fascinated me
was the incredible

438
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,960
hardiness of these penguins.

439
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,840
Feisty, determined,

440
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:42,720
beautiful little animal.

441
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:52,080
But this environment is changing.

442
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:59,880
In the last 45 years,
the tremendous warming that has

443
00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:03,760
occurred has had
an incredible impact.

444
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:09,400
The changes have been very rapid,
more rapid than anyone anticipated.

445
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:22,680
Bill has witnessed first-hand how
these changes have affected

446
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:26,360
one of the largest colonies
of Adelies on the western side

447
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,360
of the Antarctic Peninsula.

448
00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:35,680
Four decades ago, this area
contained 20,000 adults.

449
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:42,440
Currently, we only have somewhere
in the order of 400 breeding pairs.

450
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:47,640
One of the issues that Adelies
are clearly experiencing right now

451
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:49,920
is just the increasing rainfall.

452
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:56,400
Adelies are a creature of
the high Antarctic.

453
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,080
They evolve in a dry,
cold polar system.

454
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:06,120
They simply cannot tolerate
being continuously wet.

455
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:13,240
The chicks are soaking.

456
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,840
The rain is penetrating their down,

457
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,840
breaking down their ability
to insulate themselves.

458
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,400
That's why you see they're
shivering, because they're just

459
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:32,280
trying to maintain their body
temperature and they can't.

460
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:35,840
It's sad.

461
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:53,880
This tiny chick at this point
has zero chances of surviving.

462
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,160
They can't even react to
the presence of a predator.

463
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,440
We are standing,

464
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:21,040
looking at climate change actually
killing off these Adelie penguins,

465
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:22,320
one at a time.

466
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:45,960
Before he leaves Antarctica
for the last time, Bill is visiting

467
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,080
an island that was once
an Adelie paradise.

468
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,880
When we used to walk onto
this island,

469
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,680
you could immediately hear
the Adelies.

470
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,160
They were everywhere.

471
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:09,840
In 1974, the populations here
were somewhere in the order

472
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,520
of over 1,000 breeding pairs.

473
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:18,200
All that remains are these little
pebbles scattered throughout

474
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:23,000
the area, stones that were used
in former nest sites.

475
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:26,160
The pebbles are still visible.

476
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,160
They're very abundant.

477
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,360
But the birds are gone.

478
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:38,320
This is where we recorded
the first island-wide extinction

479
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:39,760
of Adelie penguins.

480
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:47,840
And now the silence that exists here
is pretty overbearing.

481
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:07,280
Um...

482
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:14,720
There's no... There's no words
that can really describe

483
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:17,800
what I'm feeling at the moment.

484
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:29,280
We're working with canaries
in the coal mine.

485
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:34,160
Adelie penguins are without a doubt
indicator species that are telling

486
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:39,640
us that the globe is changing,
the globe is getting warmer.

487
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,560
It's happening.

488
00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:44,320
And we need to do something
about it.

489
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:56,800
The disappearance of Adelie penguins
along the Antarctic Peninsula

490
00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,960
is just one example of how
record-warming temperatures are

491
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:02,920
affecting life here.

492
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:12,800
But warming temperatures are also
affecting the very coastline itself

493
00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,480
with serious implications
for global sea levels.

494
00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:27,400
Across the glaciological community,
we've identified that sea level rise

495
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,240
from Antarctica is the most
pressing question for

496
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:32,280
the next 50 to 100 years.

497
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,120
And we as a collaborative group

498
00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,760
have come together
to try and understand it,

499
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:42,360
and governments have come together
to try and understand it

500
00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:44,760
because it's important.

501
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:50,760
Professor Sridhar Anandakrishnan
has been working in the polar

502
00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:52,760
regions for over three decades.

503
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:59,200
He's part of a team of scientists
undertaking the largest Antarctic

504
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:01,680
expedition for more than 70 years.

505
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:08,720
Their destination is a remote part
of western Antarctica called

506
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:10,360
the Thwaites Ice Shelf.

507
00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:18,160
Without getting out on the ice,
you can't measure things

508
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:19,760
underneath the ice.

509
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:22,400
Going to take-off.

510
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:27,920
Those kinds of things can't be
done from space.

511
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:32,000
They can't be done by drones or
aircraft flying over it.

512
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,240
You actually have to go and put
your instruments on the ice.

513
00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:47,040
The interior of Antarctica is
covered in a giant sheet of ice.

514
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:54,480
Which for millennia has been slowly
flowing to the coast.

515
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:04,840
But because it's so cold here,
rather than carve into the sea

516
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:09,760
the ice continues to flow out
into the ocean, forming a floating

517
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:11,960
platform known as an ice shelf.

518
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:24,200
As an ice shelf grows, it begins
to act as a dam, preventing

519
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:28,440
more of the ice sheet behind it
from slipping into the sea.

520
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:34,720
And the Thwaites Ice Shelf
holds back a body of ice

521
00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:36,560
the size of Florida.

522
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:42,880
But scientists are concerned that
the ice shelf itself is now

523
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:44,680
at risk of melting.

524
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,960
We're going down through
600 metres of ice.

525
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:52,200
And once we drill the hole,

526
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,200
I'm going to put
the explosive charge down.

527
00:50:58,080 --> 00:50:59,760
Small seismic surveys...

528
00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:01,960
OK, fire in the hole.

529
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:09,520
..help establish exactly where to
sink their robotic underwater probe,

530
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:13,920
which the team hope will record
the temperature of the sea water

531
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,160
directly beneath the ice shelf.

532
00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:19,000
OK, Andy, ready to descend.

533
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:21,600
Try to go a little slower.

534
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:22,680
OK.

535
00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:25,880
Coming up on 75 metres.
75 metres now.

536
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:36,800
425 metres.

537
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,720
We've arrived at
the ice-ocean interface.

538
00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:48,120
Early results are not encouraging.

539
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:51,040
Have we noticed a huge change
in the temperature?

540
00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:52,360
Ah, yeah.

541
00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:53,920
It is warm water.

542
00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:56,600
Can you see it melt? Yes.
Like, what's going on there?

543
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:01,920
Because of climate change,

544
00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:06,800
warmer seas directly beneath the
ice shelf are melting it from below.

545
00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:14,080
So it's no longer a question of
IF this giant dam will disappear,

546
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:15,480
but when.

547
00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:21,960
When the vast ice sheet
behind it spills into the ocean,

548
00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:26,240
it could have catastrophic
consequences for global sea levels

549
00:52:26,240 --> 00:52:28,080
over the coming centuries.

550
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:35,960
The amount of water that
Antarctica contains that could

551
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,040
go into the ocean is so huge.

552
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,640
This is a global problem.

553
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:47,400
The oceans are all connected
together,

554
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:52,480
so as soon as a glacier puts
water into the ocean

555
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:54,800
it rises all over the world.

556
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:05,000
If sea levels rise, as predicted,
by the year 2050 150 million people

557
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,240
could be displaced from
coastal areas.

558
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:19,400
And by 2070 cities, including
Miami, New York, Shanghai and Mumbai

559
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,320
will be at risk of serious flooding.

560
00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:30,520
How much water will Antarctica
contribute to sea level rise?

561
00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:35,400
The biggest wild card in
all of that is how we as humans

562
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:38,160
affect climate.

563
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:10,080
Recently, at COP26, 120 nations came
together in an effort to limit

564
00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:12,480
global warming to 1.5 degrees.

565
00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:20,080
Well, a 1.5 degree rise
will still bring significant

566
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:22,040
changes with it.

567
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,520
To stand any chance of saving
what remains of our frozen planet

568
00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:28,960
and saving ourselves from
the devastating consequences

569
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:34,160
of its loss, we must stick
to this commitment and honour it

570
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:36,800
no matter how challenging
it might be.

571
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:42,240
We know that climate change
is happening.

572
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:44,960
We know the main driver
of climate change

573
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:46,640
is human activities.

574
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:48,120
It's human emissions.

575
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:51,920
As a whole human species,

576
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:55,160
we are not recognising the impact
that we're having and the fact

577
00:54:55,160 --> 00:54:57,400
that we do need to do something.

578
00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:00,640
But the important thing
is that I believe

579
00:55:00,640 --> 00:55:03,440
all of these processes
are reversible.

580
00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:08,080
If everybody can make the effort
of doing just one thing,

581
00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:10,200
reducing their carbon footprint.

582
00:55:10,200 --> 00:55:14,560
Consume less. Think about what
we need, what we really want.

583
00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:17,360
Think more sensibly about
the journeys we take,

584
00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:19,600
about the food we eat,

585
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:21,560
how that's produced.

586
00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:24,680
Figure out a lifestyle
that is sustainable.

587
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:32,960
And we're right at the point
where we can

588
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:38,960
generate all the power that
we need from renewable sources

589
00:55:38,960 --> 00:55:41,240
like solar and wind.

590
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:47,560
To do that, you need to really
transform society as a whole.

591
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:52,440
We can speak to our
representatives to try and

592
00:55:52,440 --> 00:55:54,200
reconsider energy policies.

593
00:55:56,120 --> 00:56:02,200
If enough of us are educated
about the effects of carbon in

594
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:06,760
the atmosphere, even the most
poorly educated politician

595
00:56:06,760 --> 00:56:09,800
will respond to what
their citizenry wants.

596
00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:16,320
The awareness and the concern is
greater now than it ever has been.

597
00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:19,000
So that gives us some hope.

598
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,440
It won't be easy.

599
00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:24,120
But it's doable.

600
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:28,320
If you can do something about it
then do it,

601
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,840
instead of just thinking about it.

602
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:33,880
If you can do something
about it, then do it.

603
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:43,000
We can do it.

604
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:47,760
It's within our power to do it.

605
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:50,360
We can do it.

606
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,080
We must do it.

607
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:04,120
Then there will be a future
for the planet.

608
00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:29,040
The Open University has produced
a poster exploring how animals adapt

609
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:31,760
to life in the world's
coldest environments.

610
00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:37,640
To order your free copy,
please call 0300 303 0553

611
00:57:37,640 --> 00:57:42,320
or go to bbc.co.uk/frozenplanet2

612
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:45,560
and follow the links to
the Open University.