Storming Antarctica (Full Episode) | Continent 7: Antarctica

The opening paragraph sets the scene in Antarctica, describing it as the least explored and understood continent, with extreme cold temperatures and barely anything that can survive there. However, humanity is still trying to establish a presence there despite the worst conditions on Earth.

The second paragraph introduces the Ross Ice Shelf team and their goal to study the ice shelf's past reactions to climate change, so they can try to predict future melting and sea level rise. The ice shelf is important because its collapse could cause up to 7 meters of sea level rise globally.

The third paragraph focuses on the Mt. Erebus team, who are studying Antarctica's most active volcano by helicoptering to different sites to plant instruments. Their goal is to create a composite 3D image of the inner workings of the volcano to better understand eruption signals.

The fourth paragraph introduces Dr. Ari Friedlaender, who is studying humpback and minke whales to understand how climate change impacts krill, an important food source for whales and indirectly for global seafood supply through the food chain.

In the fifth paragraph, the Ross Ice Shelf team begins their journey across dangerous terrain with hidden crevasses. They use ground penetrating radar to detect cracks under the snow and carefully navigate this "shear zone" on their way to study the remote ice shelf.

The sixth paragraph sees the Ross Ice Shelf team stopped atop a large hidden crevasse in the shear zone. The safety experts probe the area and determine a safe crossing point only 15cm wide, allowing the team to safely traverse this field of deathly cracks.

In the seventh paragraph, the Ross Ice Shelf team has crossed the shear zone but now faces an incoming storm. They push onwards as long as possible but eventually must stop and set up shelter in tents, all while weather threatens to end their historic expedition.

The eighth paragraph shows Dr. Friedlaender's challenges with tagging whales, including close calls nearly flipping his boat. But they eventually succeed in attaching a monitoring tag to better understand whale behavior, health, and responses to climate change.

The ninth paragraph covers Dr. Friedlaender's specialist using a drone for aerial footage of whales, allowing unique measurements and scaling to better assess whale body condition and health impacted by environmental changes.

In the final tenth paragraph, deteriorating weather causes the Mt. Erebus team to quickly wrap up their volcano sensor installation and get picked up by helicopter just in time before total whiteout conditions.