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{627}{671}It is summer.
{680}{724}It is at midnight.
{734}{780}We are headed south.
{2132}{2250}As they travel south, the men and women |in this ship will be bitterly cold.
{2253}{2297}Sun will burn their faces.
{2299}{2357}Wind will sear them.
{2360}{2471}They will feel fortunate to have become |part of a great adventure.
{4507}{4603}For thousands of years, as human beings |spread across the planet,
{4605}{4651}no one came here.
{4662}{4755}Antarctica was as remote as the moon.
{5358}{5449}Ancient Greeks reasoned |that the world was round
{5452}{5539}and that there must be |a great southern continent.
{5542}{5653}They called the stars above |the North Pole "Arctos", the Bear.
{5655}{5770}So they named the far Pole "Antarctos".
{5773}{5870}They imagined the land |of strange beasts and stranger customs,
{5872}{5946}where the laws of nature |might be reversed.
{5954}{6015}It was the greatest mystery on earth.
{6531}{6585}A world of ice.
{7018}{7097}A continent far larger |than the United States,
{7103}{7200}it is three times higher |than any other continent.
{7271}{7331}Its air is drier than the Sahara,
{7334}{7402}yet 70% of the fresh water |in the world
{7404}{7513}is frozen here in ice-sheets |up to 3 miles thick.
{7978}{8078}For centuries, Antarctica was |the ultimate goal,
{8089}{8168}the last challenge of exploration.
{8171}{8264}Getting here was the hardest thing |a human being could do.
{8267}{8358}Until 1821, no one even saw it.
{8402}{8489}Explorers came bravely in wooden ships.
{8595}{8651}The ice crushed them.
{8686}{8731}But they never gave up.
{8872}{8991}In 1911, Robert Falcon Scott of Britain
{8994}{9125}and Roald Amundsen of Norway |both started for the South Pole.
{9199}{9260}Both men would reach the Pole.
{9282}{9346}But only one of them would return.
{9707}{9866}This is Scott's party, sitting like knights |at the long table beneath their battle flags.
{10122}{10175}The long table is still there,
{10177}{10220}the chairs they sat on,
{10222}{10268}the cups they drank from.
{10451}{10550}Here, they helped to build |the foundations of Antarctic science.
{10732}{10789}Their isolation was complete.
{10817}{10897}They worked at the very edge |of what was known.
{10899}{10976}And the lessons they learned |were often hard.
{11546}{11587}Near Scott's old hut,
{11589}{11670}in the shadow of a volcano |called Mount Erebus,
{11673}{11735}there is nursery on the ice.
{11773}{11896}Weddle seals were one of the first animals |to be studied in Antarctica.
{11898}{11995}One of the few species |that lives here all year.
{12160}{12224}The pup was born a few weeks ago
{12226}{12304}and now it is time for it to learn how to swim.
{12945}{12992}At home beneath the ice,
{12994}{13075}they call, eerily, to one another.
{13451}{13550}Scientists have been counting seals |here since the early days.
{13552}{13645}But they are still fascinated by how |these animals have adapted to the climate
{13647}{13694}and to the freezing water.
{13737}{13863}The seals' blood carries so much oxygen |that it can hold its breath for over an hour.
{13865}{13961}They are amongst the greatest |natural divers in the world.
{14522}{14584}The ice is 6 feet thick.
{14784}{14920}This is where Antarctica hides |its colour and its complexity.
{15181}{15335}Forests of tiny plants, called algae, |grow in the ice as if in a greenhouse.
{15337}{15460}Millions of krill, which are |like small shrimp, eat the algae.
{15463}{15584}Fish each the krill, |and seals eat the fish.
{15588}{15668}This chain of life |is so isolated and balanced,
{15670}{15770}it gives scientists clues |to the health of the whole planet.
{16201}{16290}Diving here is agony |for the first 20 minutes.
{16292}{16350}After that it becomes dangerous.
{16830}{16920}Less than 2% of Antarctica is free of ice.
{16927}{17028}Here, Adelie penguins |build nests of stones.
{17102}{17187}But even stones are in short supply.
{19903}{19963}Somewhere, a leopard seal waits.
{19965}{20014}A thousand pounds of muscle,
{20014}{20096}and teeth well adapted to tear flesh.
{20108}{20279}So, scientists have built a cage for a view |of Emperor penguins early explorers longed for.
{20284}{20377}The penguin on land |is almost wholly ludicrous,
{20379}{20465}but the penguin in the water |is another thing.
{20538}{20612}One would like to follow |the bird in his aquatic life,
{20615}{20682}if only such a thing were possible.
{21833}{21935}The penguins sense danger, |so they don't surface.
{23722}{23821}No other bird lays its eggs |in the darkness of a Polar winter,
{23823}{23932}or hatches its chicks in the coldest |months of the Antarctic year.
{23930}{24038}I think we can rightly consider |the bird to be eccentric.
{24100}{24185}They may look silly, |but they are unbelievably tough.
{24187}{24291}They must walk great distances |from the sea, lashed by subzero winds,
{24293}{24389}bellies full of fish and krill, |to feed their chicks.
{24714}{24758}At the edge of the penguins' empire,
{24762}{24828}icebergs move slowly out to sea.
{24843}{24882}They are pieces of Antarctica,
{24885}{25027}born high on the continent where snow packs |into ice and flows slowly outward.
{25077}{25115}If the earth grows warmer,
{25117}{25264}the movement may speed up and ice sheets, |as big as nations, slide into the sea.
{25271}{25356}The sea would rise, |the climate change.
{25358}{25411}It may already be happening.
{27096}{27186}As the ice sheet moves, |it strains and splits.
{27702}{27789}Some crevasses are so huge |they could swallow a house.
{27811}{27875}They can be hundreds of feet deep.
{28170}{28297}Wind-blown snow gradually builds |crystal bridges across the gap at the top.
{28736}{28808}The bridges can be quite |invisible on the surface.
{28810}{28916}Some will support the weight |of a man, but some will not.
{29927}{29985}This is only a demonstration,
{30053}{30099}but this was real.
{30380}{30480}The driver in this accident |was lucky - he survived.
{30543}{30658}But his bulldozer is now |on a long, slow grind to the sea.
{31190}{31265}These ponds look shallow, |but they are not.
{31273}{31363}When a diver swam through a hole |in the bottom of one of these pools,
{31365}{31412}this is what she found.
{31551}{31634}"The water temperature is minus 1.8."
{31640}{31717}"Minus 1.8."
{31737}{31897}"And the visibility is nearly |100 metres, amazing!"
{32107}{32182}We are inside a moving glacier.
{32381}{32435}No other film like this exists.
{32437}{32519}No one has seen caverns |like this before.
{32522}{32620}Here, scientists would expect |only rock-hard ice.
{32839}{32899}So Antarctica reminds us again,
{32901}{32990}we have scarcely begun |to understand our planet.
{33646}{33726}Once, these dry valleys |were full of ice.
{33730}{33794}Thousands of years ago, |something happened to the climate
{33796}{33872}and the ice that was |here, disappeared.
{34018}{34075}It left behind vast, empty valleys
{34077}{34142}where it has probably not |rained for a million years.
{34144}{34212}Where algae grows |inside solid rock,
{34214}{34344}and the land is so arid |we practice experiments designed for Mars.
{34410}{34529}And it left a mystery that becomes |more important to us each day:
{34533}{34600}What makes the climate change?
{34884}{34979}Sea-ice around the continent |waxes and wanes.
{34984}{35069}In winter, Antarctica doubles in size.
{35074}{35186}The expanse of coldness affects |climate all over the globe.
{35202}{35345}But Antarctica not only affects |climate, it also records it.
{35450}{35595}Far from civilisation, a core-drill |digs deep into the ice sheet.
{35729}{35816}Ice layers can be read |like the rings of trees.
{35831}{35937}The climate record goes |back 100,000 years.
{35963}{36100}In trapped bubbles of ancient air, |ice cores tell a simple story.
{36102}{36199}When the levels of carbon dioxide |in the atmosphere change,
{36202}{36257}so does the climate.
{36504}{36686}A day, a week, a month, |a year, a decade.
{36695}{36795}This call came from 466 ft. down.
{36797}{36937}It's ice that fell as snow, |about 4000 years ago.
{37117}{37264}In the crystal ball of the ice, |the news from Antarctica is bad.
{37322}{37486}Methane, Strontium90, lead, |increased carbon dioxide.
{37490}{37551}We are changing the air.
{37559}{37626}And we are starting |to see the effects.
{37720}{37806}Twenty years ago, scientists predicted |that man-made chemicals
{37808}{37887}would thin the planet's |protective layer of ozone.
{37910}{37976}Recently, the thinning |became dramatic,
{37978}{38053}letting dangerous ultraviolet |rays from the sun,
{38055}{38162}shown here in red, |hit the earth.
{38166}{38214}Nobody noticed it.
{38229}{38286}Except in Antartica.
{38310}{38385}Here, a few scientists |doing theoretical research,
{38387}{38450}noticed the change |in the upper atmosphere
{38453}{38538}and learned that man-made |chemicals were causing it.
{38713}{38817}International cooperation |may slow production of the chemicals,
{38820}{38890}but the damage has been done.
{38962}{39005}So, the research goes on.
{39008}{39096}Trying to understand |what we are doing to our world.
{39099}{39170}Trying to find out, in time.
{42065}{42146}In this climate you must |co-operate to survive.
{42149}{42261}Here, that hard truth |applies even to politics.
{42288}{42347}Antarctica is not a nation.
{42349}{42429}It is protected by a unique |agreement among many nations
{42431}{42521}to save the continent |for peace and science.
{42524}{42594}This treaty has lasted |for over 30 years
{42597}{42676}and stands as a model |for a happier world.
{43524}{43636}In 1929, 17 years |after the Pole was won,
{43639}{43725}Richard Bird traded dogs |for an airplane,
{43728}{43823}and was the first |to fly over the South Pole.
{43875}{44032}He looked, in awe, on a wilderness |that Scott and Amundsen took months to cross.
{44323}{44376}Today, the flight takes three hours
{44378}{44507}and the plane lands at what seems |to be a space-station in low orbit.
{44574}{44658}Amundsen and Scotts' |South Pole station.
{44822}{44890}Here, on ice 9000 ft. thick,
{44893}{45017}almost a hundred people from all over |the world work on thirty projects,
{45019}{45108}each looking beyond |the edge of what is known.
{45207}{45328}At this altitude, the air is so thin |newcomers struggle for breath.
{45330}{45405}And the cold is unrelenting.
{45408}{45489}Even in summer, |it reaches 40 below.
{45511}{45570}The sun rises once a year.
{45587}{45635}During the six months of daylight,
{45635}{45740}it makes an almost perfect circle |in the sky every day.
{45772}{45898}They've come to take its picture, |for two and half days.
{45991}{46051}A quick stroll around the world.
{46058}{46099}The camera's ready,
{46115}{46178}and it re-orders time.
{47610}{47666}The wind is blowing hard,
{47673}{47829}and there is that curious damp feeling |in the air, which chills one to the bone.
{47831}{47951}Great God, this is an awful place.
{47977}{48050}Captain Scott and his companions |arrived at the Pole
{48052}{48180}to find that Roald Amundsen had been |there just four weeks before.
{48262}{48370}Taff Evans died a month |into the return journey from the Pole.
{48375}{48474}Titus Oates, who slowed |his companions with his lameness,
{48477}{48573}walked away to his death |to try to save them.
{48595}{48703}700 miles from the Pole |and just eleven miles from safety,
{48705}{48793}the last three men were |stopped by a blizzard.
{48811}{48889}With them, was 35 pounds |of geological samples
{48891}{49013}they had hauled hundreds of miles |in the cause of science.
{49122}{49159}(It) seems a pity,
{49181}{49222}but I don't think
{49226}{49276}I can write more.
{49315}{49359}These rough notes
{49372}{49421}and our dead bodies
{49424}{49482}must tell the tale.
{49620}{49690}I should so like to have come through
{49693}{49755}for your dear sake.
{49762}{49829}It is splendid to pass, however,
{49832}{49914}with such companions as I have.
{49917}{50013}And, as all five of us |have mothers and wives,
{50017}{50083}you will not be alone.
{50099}{50164}Your ever loving son,
{50166}{50247}To the end of this life |and the next,
{50250}{50368}when God shall wipe away |all tears from our eyes.
{50895}{50966}Scott and his men were |buried in the ice,
{50968}{51045}which will, someday, |carry them to sea.
{51059}{51143}But their rock samples |were taken home by others.
{51145}{51259}And their work became part |of the new century's Age of Science.
{51262}{51391}And of the peculiarly human |combination of curiosity and courage
{51393}{51497}that has marked Antarctica's story.
{51780}{51856}Dear Lord, we thank you |for this time and this place.
{51858}{51946}And an opportunity |to gather together to give thanks.
{51948}{52018}We just thank you, Father, |for the food that was prepared for us
{52020}{52089}and we just pray |that you will keep us safe
{52091}{52154}and protect us |as we work down here.
{52156}{52273}For it is in your name |that we pray, Amen
{52670}{52720}The quest continues,
{52723}{52843}driven by the same force |that inspired the old explorer knights.
{52847}{52951}Here, in this place |of great beauty and hard truth,
{52956}{53084}we are given reason to hope |that we may yet do our best.
{53090}{53190}Transcript by bigbreaths| converted into subs by m06166
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