Looking down on our planet,
it may come as a surprise
to find just how much of it is blanketed in snow and ice.
These vast frozen wildernesses
cover more than a fifth of the earth...
Yet some areas are so remote and inhospitable
that, even today,
the closest we've come to exploring them
is from space.
More than a decade ago,
the first series of frozen planet
examined life in the arctic and the antarctic.
In this series, we will explore
all of earth's frozen habitats...
From its highest peaks,
to its snowbound deserts...
To deep beneath the ice.
Between them, they contain
an astonishing array of animals...
Many that are found nowhere else on earth.
(Snarling and bellowing)
We will watch the extraordinary ways
by which they manage to survive.
Using new technology,
such as racer drones,
we'll gain a new insight into their remarkable lives.
But just as we're beginning to understand its wildlife,
we are recognising an alarming truth.
Our frozen wildernesses are disappearing
at faster rates than ever before.
And never has it been more important
to understand what is going on in these icy territories.
In this first episode,
we will travel from pole to pole...
To celebrate the precious wildlife
foundin our frozen wildernesses...
(Grunts)
And witness their wonders...
While there is still time to save them.
This is frozen planet ii.
We begin our journey in the far south of the planet.
After six months of darkness,
the sun is starting to return
to the largest frozen expanse on earth.
Antarctica.
A continent almost twice the size of Australia.
Here, temperatures fall to minus 80 degrees centigrade.
It's the coldest place on earth.
(Wind howls)
There is only one animal here
Hardy enough to raise its family in winter.
(Chittering)
The emperor penguin.
Winds here can reach speeds of over 100mph,
and a chick is in real danger of freezing to death.
But his parents are possibly the most devoted in all nature.
They shield him
from the full force of the icy blast...
And huddle together to create a tight creche.
Within it, the chicks, remarkably,
can maintain their body temperature
of 37 degrees celsius...
Until one spring day,
when the chicks have grown to almost a metre tall...
The parents simply walk away.
Their parental duties are complete...
And they will never again return to their chicks.
As the days pass, the chicks grow hungry.
(Chirrups)
And their only chance of finding a meal is out at sea.
But that could be 30 miles away across the frozen ocean.
When one makes the first bold move...
(High-pitched chirruping)
The rest follow.
They set off at a steady pace.
But sliding on your belly is an easy option.
Out on this ever-changing platform of the frozen sea...
Towering walls of ice stand in their way.
(Honks)
This will require mountaineering skills.
Beaks come in useful as ice picks.
And tobogganing is a quick way down.
As they near the sea, the ice becomes more unstable.
Even the smallest crack is met with suspicion.
And with good reason.
A crack can quickly turn into a gaping chasm.
(Low creaking)
(Penguins honk)
If they can't escape,
the panicked chicks will be doomed.
Made it.
Finally, the end is in sight.
The southern ocean.
In some years, the sea ice is so unstable
that none make it as far as this.
These chicks are the lucky ones.
Not the most graceful entry.
But they are in their element.
The sea.
They may have endured the toughest of upbringings,
but now they can reap the benefits
of the long summer ahead,
and feed in the richest waters on earth.
In winter,
the seas around Antarctica are so cold that they form
a platform of ice twice the size of Europe.
But in summer,
just off the shores of the antarctic peninsula,
the ice cover breaks up into millions of tiny ice roes.
It's an excellent place for a weddell seal
to rest up after a night's feed.
(Snuffling sigh)
The bay is sheltered...
And the water calm.
But there are great dangers here.
(Low rumbling)
(Whooshing)
Killer whales.
This pair of 15-year-olds are learning what is perhaps
the most complex hunting technique in nature.
After sizing up their prey...
They assemble 30 metres away...
And then launch an attack.
They swim in tandem,
synchronising their tail beats...
To create a wave.
The seal is washed off...
But it won't give up without a fight.
The seal has escaped...
This time.
But for the young killer whales,
help is at hand.
They live in multi-generational family groups...
Led by an experienced female who can be over 100 years old.
Helped by her accumulated knowledge,
the whales have become ruthlessly efficient.
They have a 90% hunting success rate...
But a killer whale needs to eat a seal a day...
So this 14-strong family has a lot of hunting to do.
Spreading out,
they spy-hop to search the ice roes.
When a seal is spotted,
the scouts alert the family with a rallying call.
(High-pitched cries)
But if they are to catch a seal
resting on such a large piece of ice...
The hunters need to change their tactics.
This time, they produce a sub-surface wave.
(Thudding and cracking)
It breaks the ice into smaller pieces.
But the seal still has a raft...
And appears to be protected from any oncoming wave.
The matriarch whale, however, has a plan.
Working in a coordinated way,
the pod push the seal's ice platform
into clearer water.
(Whooshing)
The matriarch now tries another tactic
which will avoid injury.
Blowing bubbles.
They disorientate the tiring seal...
And the whales move in for the kill.
Only about 100 killer whales in the world
hunt using this technique.
It's an ingenious solution to the problem of finding prey,
here in the most extreme frozen habitat on earth.
Antarctica is so cold
because of its position at the far south of the planet.
But travel north...
And you'll find other icy worlds
that are created by altitude, in the mountains.
The andes in South America,
with its 4,500 miles of snow-covered peaks,
is the longest range on earth.
These high icy worlds even exist close to the equator,
where the sun is at its hottest,
as on mount Kenya in Africa.
But the highest mountains of all stretch 1,500 miles
across the north of sub-tropical Asia -
the himalaya.
At the western end, bordering Pakistan,
stand the karakoram.
They contain more peaks over 8,000 metres high
than any other range on earth...
And include k2,
which stands over 8,600 metres tall.
The slopes of the himalaya
carry the greatest accumulation of snow and ice
outside the polar regions.
It's an area known as the third pole.
But north of the himalaya,
there are even more surprising frozen worlds
created by altitude.
A remote snow-bound desert -
the gobi.
(Bellowing)
And beyond it, a grassy plain that stretches
for 5,000 miles across Central Asia.
It's known as the great steppe.
Here, sheltering from the elements
in his Boulder den,
is a somewhat grouchy resident.
A pallas's cat.
He has the densest fur of any cat in the world.
Nonetheless, to keep warm,
he must catch up to five rodents a day.
Top of the menu are voles...
And gerbils.
(Squeaks)
Relative to body size,
pallas's cats have one of the shortest legs of any cat...
And that helps by giving them
a low profile when stalking.
But it's not so good for wading through deep snow.
(Snow crunches)
(Meows)
Never mind. There are plenty more.
He just needs to stay focused.
Unfortunately, the longer he's out in the snow,
the colder his paws become.
And he has only one way to get the blood circulating again.
That could be one shake too many.
(Calls)
(Squeaks)
Only one hunt in three by a pallas's cat is successful.
No wonder he has the reputation of being
the grumpiest cat in the world.
(Wind whistles)
To the north of the steppe, in higher latitudes,
lies yet another frozen world.
The boreal forest.
750 billion snow-covered trees.
It's the largest forest on earth,
encircling the top of the world
from Europe to Russia,
and across to North America.
At the far eastern end of this vast siberian forest
lies the hunting ground of one of the world's rarest big cats.
The siberian tiger.
Ihegalhunfing and destruction of its habitat
have driven this tiger to the very brink of extinction.
Now fewer than 500 remain in the wild.
Weighing nearly 200kg,
it's the largest of all the big cats.
To keep warm,
this male must eat 10kg of meat a day...
But in winter, any prey remaining here...
(Barks)
Is all too easily alarmed.
He must patrol his entire 700-square-mile territory
if he is to find enough to eat.
(Snuffling and grunting)
His acute sense of smell
tells him that wild pig were here.
He's so hungry that he would tackle even a 150kg bear.
But it left here months ago...
Leaving only a faint trace of its scent.
In the Autumn, black bears here escape the coming winter
by hibernating inside caves.
But that wouldn't stop a tiger from trying to catch one.
(Gruff panting)
Remote cameras reveal the bear's whereabouts.
It retreated into the farthest recess months ago.
The tiger is simply too big to reach it.
(Grunts)
But ready for every opportunity,
this big cat is able to endure the long siberian winter.
(Birds squawk)
And as long as this forest is kept free from poachers,
these magnificent tigers have a good chance of surviving.
In the northerly reaches of the boreal forest...
A strange phenomenon illuminates the night sky.
The Aurora borealis.
Electrically charged particles from the sun
collide with the earth's atmosphere,
creating this othennorldly display.
Viewed from space,
the Aurora brings light to the frozen Poles,
which otherwise would remain in darkness
for almost three months.
This is the arctic tundra...
Where temperatures can fall to minus 50 degrees celsius.
With little or no shelter,
few animals can survive the winter here.
But some do.
(Wind howls)
- Muskox. - (Deep grunts)
Relics from the last ice age.
Two layers of fur protect them
from temperatures of minus 30 degrees.
This allows them to give birth in early spring.
At six hours old, a calf is already able to stand...
(Low bellow)
Ready to follow the herd in the search for fresh grazing.
But until they gain in strength,
they are very vulnerable.
(Calf bleats)
(Muskox bellows)
They're being stalked.
Grizzly bears.
Weighing up to 300kg,
they have emerged after six months of hibernation...
And are extremely hungry.
One gets to within just ten metres...
And then attacks.
(Yelps)
(Bleats)
Separated from their mothers,
the newly born are unable to distinguish friend...
From foe.
The bear instinctively kills every calf it can.
Only a few escape.
(Bleats weakly)
But the herd is now far away...
And he is too weak to follow.
(Bleats)
90% of calves do not survive their first year.
Even one without injury
stands little chance without its mother.
(Bleats)
(Bleats weakly)
(Bleats)
Reunited.
If just a few calves survive to adulthood,
the future of the herd will be secure.
North of the tundra lies the arctic ocean,
surrounded by three continents -
Europe, North America and Asia.
In winter, it remains almost entirely frozen.
But as the spring sunshine finally reaches
the northernmost part of the planet,
the sea ice begins to break up.
This marks the start of the breeding season
for male hooded seals.
(Rumbling grunt)
When they're six years old,
the males develop an inflatable nose.
They're ready to breed, and the bigger their nose,
the more attractive they will be to a female.
And now this one is eager to prove it.
A female has just given birth.
(Contented groans)
A mother spends a mere four days
feeding milk to her pup...
And then, and only then,
will she be ready to mate again.
That is too long for an impatient youngster
to wait around.
These females seem to have been claimed
by a larger male...
But if this youngster is to breed this year,
it's worth a try.
An inflatable nose can also be used
to intimidate a rival.
His bravado pays off.
He must now woo the receptive female.
(Grunts)
(Echoing plunks)
(Trilled grunts)
She seems unimpressed...
But he has another trick.
He has an expandable sac within his left nostril.
What is her verdict?
(Grunts)
A sharp nip on the tail.
And that means no.
With only one day in the year in which to mate,
the female is understandably choosy...
And until the youngster has grown
a more impressive balloon,
he's unlikely to be chosen.
No wonder he's deflated.
The spring not only transforms the ocean,
it also triggers an important event
on the biggest of the arctic's islands.
Greenland.
Over 1,600 miles long.
(Wind whooshes)
It's covered by a single gigantic ice sheet,
the largest in the northern hemisphere.
As spring advances, the surface of the ice melts,
forming crystal-clear lakes...
Up to five miles wide.
Climate change is bringing higher temperatures,
so there is more and more meltwater.
It drains down into the mile-thick ice sheet...
And a whole chain of events is then triggered.
Time-lapse photography from space
reveals what happens next.
(Cracking)
The increased meltwater
accelerates the ice sheet's slide downhill.
Eventually, it reaches the ocean.
Here, it breaks up into icebergs,
some taller than the empire state building.
Greenland is losing its ice
six times faster today than it was 30 years ago.
It alone is responsible
for a quarter of the rise in global sea levels.
Changes in the arctic are already affecting
the lives of its highly specialised wildlife.
Polar bears.
These one-year-old twins still rely on their mother
for her milk, protection and crucial survival lessons.
But they have yet to perfect their swimming technique...
And they can't wait to practise.
The cubs need to be as at home in the water
as they are on the sea ice.
- (Grunts) - Their mother calls them out.
Until they've accumulated
a significant layer of body fat...
They feel the cold.
A roll in the snow is a good way to dry off.
Then it's back to play...
While their mother heads off to hunt.
Over the coming months,
a mother must provide her cubs with not just milk but meat,
and lots of it.
By midsummer, the sea ice has become so thin...
That her best chance of catching her preferred prey
is by ambushing it from the water.
It's a technique known as aquatic stalking.
She approaches downwind...
And tries to get within a metre of a bearded seal.
But today there is less sea ice to provide cover,
so she is having to target riskier prey.
The hooded seal.
They are about the same size as the bearded,
but more aggressive and dangerous.
She moves round to the other side.
The arctic is now warming more than twice as fast
as the rest of the world.
The sea could be ice free in summer
by as early as 2035.
That will make it harder for mother polar bears
to feed themselves...
Let alone their cubs.
Well adapted to live in the cold...
The animals that inhabit our frozen lands and seas
need one thing more than any other.
And that is for the planet to stop warming.
It's now up to us to make that happen.
Filming across the length and breadth
of our frozen planet,
one of the team's greatest challenges was to capture
the enormity of Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet.
To do so, the crew launched
five separate filming expeditions,
installing specially designed cold-proof time-lapse cameras
that were to run for three years...
Even commissioning satellites to record
the big-picture changes.
But the story would be incomplete
without documenting the finale of this event -
the calving of Greenland's store glacier...
A wall of ice over three miles long...
And towering 120 metres high.
(Helicopter rotor hums)
The crew arrive at the height of the summer thaw,
when, at any moment,
fracturing ice blocks the size of a small town
may be cast into the sea.
Camping out for the next three weeks,
the team takes advantage of the constant daylight
offered by the far north at this time of the year.
We've got a lot of ice on the glacier, 24 hours a day.
So, yeah, we're poised.
I started about 8pm
and it's currently, yeah, just after two.
I've got until 4am this morning, I think.
- (Snores) - (Insects buzz)
They're hoping to be one of the first film crews
to uso a camera drone
for unprecedented proximity and a brand-new perspective.
- Yeah, it's going. - (Rumbling)
It's not long before their new technology
is put to the test.
(Dronehums)
But it quickly reveals its limitations.
The issue with the drone, you've got to turn it on,
get it in the air and fly it 1.5km to the glacier fronts.
So, if you see a calving happening,
then you're too late.
With a flight time of just 20 minutes,
gauging the moment of takeoff is critical.
Helen: Yeah, I feel like today,
just every decision I've made has been the wrong one.
It's really easy to trick yourself into thinking,
"oh, it's gonna go, it's gonna go,"
so you get out there,
use up a whole drone battery hovenng,
come back, and as you're heading back - pfff!
Soon, the team face another problem
that comes with today's warming arctic.
Unseasonably wet weather
makes it impossible to fly the drone,
and acts as a catalyst for further melting.
(Thunderous crashing)
Absolute racket happening down in the glacier.
Oh, my goodness.
(Boom)
Even if it is a major calving event...
Can't see a thing.
(Booming echoes)
That sound just went on and on.
(Boom)
Helen: That one was huge.
After five days of frustration,
the fog finally lifts to reveal the bay
choked with giant icebergs.
It appears the crew have missed their opportunity.
The morale of the crew
has taken a little bit of a downturn.
Do you know what? I just don't know what to say.
I'm so tired.
To make matters worse,
a plague of mosquitoes descends,
further disheartening the exhausted team.
(Insects buzz)
Helen: All your senses are all-go all the time,
even when you're trying to sleep,
so it's just...
A bit emotionally draining sometimes.
Then, with just a few shooting days left,
under a warming sun,
the glacier groans and rumbles back into action.
(Creaking)
- Ooh. - (Boom)
Man: Guys, a big one going!
This could be the opportunity they've been waiting for.
Oh, my gosh, look at that! Ah!
A calving event lasting long enough
to film from the drone.
But no-one is prepared for the sheer scale of it.
Just layer after layer of ice broke away
and fell into the sea,
and then out came
this enormous, skyscraper-sized iceberg,
displacing vast quantities of water
and throwing enormous blocks of ice around
like they were nothing.
Sitting here, day after day, crossing your fingers
and hoping that you get a big calving
and you see a big event, and you manage to film it,
and when it does happen and when it does go off,
it's so exciting, and you get the adrenaline.
And then aftennards, as you're sort of coming down
from that, there is a bitter sweetness to it
as she realised that's another piece of ice
that's slowly raising the sea level.
Such imagery provides an invaluable record
of the rapid changes
that are now taking place
across our frozen planet.