All language subtitles for sir.david.attenborough.frozen.planet.s01e06.1080p.bluray.x264-shortbrehd

The polar regions are more hostile to
life than any other part of the Earth.

Human beings have little natural
protection against the cold,

so why, for thousands of years,

have we endured the hardships that
come from living here?

And what keeps us coming back today,

to the farthest extremes
of our planet?

Winter in the most northerly town
on Earth, Longyearbyen.

Here, for three months of the year,
the sun never rises.

Only the full moon, which never
sets as far north as this,

sheds any light into the darkness.

This town was built here in Svalbard,

only 700 miles from the North Pole,
to support a mine.

The Arctic is rich in coal,
oil and minerals.

In Siberia, the Russian
Arctic, the mineral

wealth has given rise
to large cities.

This is Norilsk,
the coldest city on Earth.

Temperatures regularly drop
to below minus 50 degrees Centigrade.

Fuel freezes in the tanks
of the trucks, and

has to be melted in a
rather alarming way.

Ships are frozen into the rivers
for nine months of the year.

The ice must be cut
away from their hulls

because steel becomes brittle
and vulnerable to the thickening ice.

Like all Arctic cities,
Norilsk depends on a

power plant which heats
everybody's home.

Waste heat from the plant even keeps
a lake ice-free all winter.

Even at air temperatures
of minus 50, the

Norilsk Walrus Club
come here every day.

There is evidence that a dip in cold
water is good for the immune system,

but when the water is
a degree above freezing,

it's hard to imagine that the
benefits could outweigh the pain.

Today's Arctic city
dwellers can lead an

almost normal existence
thanks to technology.

But towns and cities are very recent
arrivals in the polar landscape.

The polar regions are the least
populated part of our planet.

Most of the Arctic remains
empty of human beings.

In the north, the Pole itself is
covered by a freezing ocean.

Around it lie vast lands, of which
Siberia is the largest and coldest.

Human beings first ventured onto
the great plains of Siberia,

the tundra, thousands of years ago,
and some live here still.

The Dolgan are one of the few tribes
who still live in much the same way

as those first Arctic pioneers.

They are reindeer people.

Reindeer are one of few animals that can
endure these bitterly cold conditions,

scraping a living by nibbling tiny
plants that survive beneath the snow.

Nobody has ever totally
tamed reindeer,

but today's animals are docile enough
to allow the Dolgan

to drive them across the tundra in an
everlasting search for their food.

This is a typical Dolgan village,
home to just two extended families.

Here, in the coldest part of Arctic,
the only way to get water

for nine months of the year is to
melt ice from the frozen rivers.

At least there's no problem
preventing food from decay.

Outside is one big deep-freeze.

Survival is only possible
because of reindeer fur.

It makes wonderfully warm clothing,

though small children still
have to be sewn into

their clothes to prevent
instant frostbite.

The Dolgan even use reindeer fur to
insulate their huts.

This is living at its most communal.

Good relations with the in-laws are
essential.

Reindeer are so valuable
that the people

only eat them if they
have no other choice.

Their favourite food is
raw fish from the frozen rivers.

Every week or so, these
families have to travel

to find new feeding
grounds for their herds.

First, they round up their strongest
animals with lassoes,

a skill that their
ancestors brought with

them when they came north
from Central Asia.

And then, literally, they move house.

A whole Dolgan village can move
on in just a few hours.

Over the year, they travel hundreds of
miles like this across the vast tundra.

It was the herds of reindeer, wandering
over the lands of the Arctic,

that brought the first Dolgan here.

Other people, however,
took on an even greater challenge.

They left the land and looked
for their food out on the frozen sea.

Here in the shifting world of the sea
ice, they found sea mammals.

Pasha leads a group of
Inuit men in Chukotka,

the North Eastern
corner of Russia.

The men have travelled many
hours from home in the bitter cold,

fighting their way through
a dangerous maze.

These hundred tonne ice floes could
crush their small boats like eggshells.

The men have big families, and this is
the only way they have of feeding them.

Pasha is looking for the puffs of
steamy air produced by their quarry.

An animal that is bigger than
many Arctic whales.

A two tonne seal with formidable
tusks.

A walrus.

It's heading for open water.
They must reach it before it dives.

An angry walrus could easily
overturn the boats.

The harpoon sticks firmly in the
walrus's thick layer of blubber,

and floats attached to it prevent
the animal from diving.

Pasha wants to kill quickly with
a single clean shot.

The hunters are exhausted
after a long day,

but they still have a
lot more work to do.

This enormous prize will feed
everyone's family for weeks.

It will take many hours to butcher.
Nothing will go to waste.

The meat is parcelled up in bags
made of the animal's skin.

It's midnight, but the sun is still
up.

Summer is almost here.

This far north,
the seasons change fast,

the sun is rising higher and
growing warmer with each passing day.

The transformation from winter to
summer is so dramatic

that it dominates the lives of all
who live here.

The ice around the coast has
almost disappeared,

and gone are the seals and walrus
that Pasha and his men relied on.

They set off on
another search for food.

Their destination is
an island in the bay.

Their walrus skin boat is
an ancient design,

light enough to carry high up
the beach so it doesn't drift away.

Once again, the men will have to work
as a team,

but one of them will be taking
very serious risks.

The lightest man in the group, Kolya,
is also the oldest.

He will trust his life
to a length of old

nylon rope and the
strength of his friends.

These 100 metre high cliffs are home
to thousands of guillemots,

and Kolya is after their eggs.

He relies on the men above to
lower him to the right place.

Kolya is tough
but his stress is obvious.

The men lower Kolya down to
the bottom of the cliff,

and from there, he works his way back
up the crumbling rock face.

Stop!

This mission will produce no more
than about 50 eggs,

but at least there's no need to
carry a packed lunch.

Over the years, many men have fallen to
their deaths collecting seabird eggs.

This is truly dangerous work.

These Arctic peoples can't
grow crops.

The frozen ground never thaws to
allow them to do so.

They rely on animals for their food
so the chance to collect a few

dozen eggs has to be taken,
even if it means risking your life.

The change of season has transformed
the Arctic's coastline

and inland, the difference
is just as extreme.

July temperatures on
the tundra can be

surprisingly high, over
30 degrees centigrade.

Reindeer now move not just to
find fresh pasture,

but also to avoid the summer
swarms of blood sucking flies.

To keep their animals healthy, the local
herders are driving them to the sea.

The cooler conditions on
the coast bring relief to the herds

and the chance, every year,
for different tribes to meet.

Pasha and his hunters
live close by.

They've had word of
the herders' arrival.

The hunters' cargo is highly
prized for the winter ahead,

fat-rich walrus meat
that's been fermenting

in the skin bags for two months.

Today will see an exchange that has
taken place every summer for centuries.

The herders barter reindeer
skins for walrus meat.

Pooling their resources has helped these
communities to survive for so long.

A fry-up of guillemot eggs is all the
better when shared with old friends.

Summer brings a brief
chance for isolated peoples to meet.

This is an opportunity to exchange
news, arrange weddings,

and tell the latest jokes.

By August, the summer is over.

Winter arrives only too swiftly,
but the peoples of the Arctic,

who came here originally to hunt,
have devised ways to deal with

the hostile and changing conditions
that have stood the test of time.

Today, there's a new draw to the
Arctic.

This is Greenland, a
territory of Denmark now

known to be rich in oil
and precious metals.

This sled team is
part of the Danish Special Forces.

They're on one of the world's toughest
journeys, a 2,000 mile patrol

to maintain Denmark's
claim to this valuable wilderness.

But the patrol's mission
is only possible with

the help of man's oldest
Arctic companion.

Rasmus and Roland have spent the
summer months training

and getting to know their team of
Greenland huskies.

They need to have a very close bond
with every single dog.

This is Roger and Armstrong,

actually the oldest dog in the whole
patrol, but he's still going strong.

The men are totally dependent on
the stamina of their dogs,

which will keep on running all through
the bitter cold of the winter.

This is the last time the team will
see the sun for two months.

The most intelligent dogs
always lead,

choosing the safest route, feeling
for hidden crevasses and thin ice.

This is one of six teams that patrol
the whole of northeast Greenland,

the only people in an
empty wilderness that is

larger than France and
Great Britain combined.

Conditions here are too extreme
for current mining technology,

but some day, ways will be found of
digging out the huge mineral treasures

that lie hidden within these
mountains.

The patrol secures Denmark's claim to
do so simply by being here.

But it's not the
prospect of getting rich

that makes men sign
up for this patrol,

it's the chance for the journey of a
lifetime.

The team travel over
the ice for six

months, covering up
to 40 miles in a day.

Friendship and teamwork are essential
if they're to succeed.

Their dogs can sleep outside no
matter how cold it gets.

Rasmus and Roland have a
nice cosy tent.

They have a few modern conveniences,
including a radio,

with which they report their position
back to headquarters in Denmark

and catch up on the latest news.

Right now it's the section of money,

what's new in the economy in
Denmark, the financial crisis

and all the other things that we
actually don't care about out here.

If you can cope with
the conditions, then

winter in the Arctic
can be magical,

especially when the greatest
light show on Earth is overhead.

The first humans in the Arctic
believed the Northern Lights,

or aurora borealis,
were dancing spirits.

Now we know the lights are
caused by electrically

charged particles
streaming from the sun,

attracted by the magnetic
pull of the earth's poles.

A big aurora storm contains enough
energy to knock out satellite

communications and power supplies
across the northern hemisphere,

so understanding the aurora
is vital.

In Alaska,
rockets are used to study the Lights.

A hundred miles up, at the edge
of outer space, the rockets

release a cloud of glowing smoke
that's visible from earth.

The smoke is blown by fierce winds
which are generated by the aurora.

Mapping the movement of the smoke
helps scientists to understand

how this unearthly spectacle
affects our atmosphere.

They constantly monitor
the aurora to help protect us

from its effects, so the rest of us
can simply enjoy the magic,

just as the Arctic's first people must
have done, thousands of years ago.

For all the many
peoples of the Arctic,

the aurora is a
reminder of the sun's

presence throughout the
dark days of winter.

But when the sun
is below the horizon in the north,

it's above it at the southern
end of our planet.

Here, humanity's history has
been very different.

Antarctica is far colder
than the Arctic,

and 99% of its land is permanently
blanketed by ice.

Antarctica is so utterly remote

and inhospitable that no people
ever settled here.

It was only 200 years ago that the
first human beings

even glimpsed the vast continent.

The first people who crossed
the Southern Ocean did

so for the same reason that the first
people went to the Arctic Ocean,

to hunt sea mammals.

The populations of whales
and seals are only now beginning to

recover from 150 years
of intensive hunting.

But none of those hunters
ever tried to venture into

the frigid interior of
the Antarctic continent.

The first successful attempt to do that
was made only a hundred years ago.

This hut was the base
for one of the most

famous expeditions
in polar history.

It was from here in 1911 that
Captain Scott and his team

launched their attempt to be the
first people to reach the South Pole.

The cold, dry conditions have
preserved the interior

of the hut almost exactly
as the expedition members left it.

Expedition photographer
Herbert Ponting

captured the spirit of
the age of exploration.

These first explorers borrowed
the techniques of the Arctic peoples.

They wore fur gloves and boots
and burned seal blubber to keep warm.

They built sleds based on a
traditional Inuit design.

They even made their sleeping
bags from reindeer hide.

Scott and his men sought the glory of
discovery in an untouched wilderness,

and died in the attempt.

But he, and those who followed him,
were the first to reveal

the splendour of Antarctica to
the rest of the world.

The lure of adventure still draws
intrepid travellers today.

Like the first explorers,

most modern visitors come during the
brief summer when the cold relents

enough for the toughest icebreakers
to reach the edge of the continent,

but most still need
a helicopter to go further.

The scenery in Antarctica is
magnificent and dramatic,

but what really attracts people
here is the wildlife.

An emperor penguin colony is
a particular highlight.

Because human beings
didn't arrive in the

Antarctic until the
past few centuries,

the animals have never
developed a fear of man.

But very strict regulations govern how
close people can approach any wildlife.

And when visitors
leave, they must take

every trace of their
visit away with them.

Since 1959, the whole of Antarctica has
been protected by international treaty.

The nations of the world have agreed
that no country can claim Antarctica,

or prospect for its oil or minerals.

The only significant human activities
allowed here are those that

extend our scientific knowledge.

But unlocking Antarctica's secrets
requires some unusual tools.

This brand new robot submarine has
been designed to go

far beyond the limits of any human.

Today, this diver is
putting the sub through

its paces on one of
its very first dives.

It's designed to be small
and nimble enough

to explore the Antarctic seabed
without damaging it.

The submarine's mission, as it
journeys into the unknown,

is to map the seafloor and look for
species new to science.

The seawater here is a
degree below zero, so even

the toughest human diver
can't stay down for long.

The submarine will explore deeper under
the ice than anyone has gone before.

From the depths of the ocean to
the highest peaks of the land,

new discoveries are being
made even in places

which were first visited
over a century ago.

Mount Erebus was an
irresistible draw to

the legendary explorer
Ernest Shackleton.

In 1908, his men became the first to
climb this active volcano.

They soon discovered that this is the
coldest place on the Antarctic coast.

Today's explorers
still have to guard

against frostbite in
the height of summer

when temperatures rarely creep
above minus 30 degrees centigrade.

Shackleton's men had no idea
of the extraordinary spectacle

that lay beneath their feet.

Yep, OK, up on the wall there
somewhere now. Yeah.

Under the ice and snow is a network
of caves,

which only a handful of expert cavers
have ever dared to enter.

This is the first scientific
expedition to explore them in detail.

Here, there are ice formations that
occur nowhere else on Earth.

Each cave contains its own unique
collection of structures.

The team is mapping the caves to see how
their shape changes over the years.

OK, flat side to here.

That's 126.8 degrees for the angle.

126.8. Correct.

The steam leaking from vents
in the side of the volcano

is constantly sculpting this labyrinth
that extends deep under the ice.

When the hot breath of the volcano
hits the icy walls,

the moisture in the air
freezes into beautiful shapes.

Some of the crystals are so unusual
that the cavers are investigating

a remote but tantalising
possibility about their formation.

Could it be that some of these
extraordinary crystal shapes

are formed by highly specialised
bacteria, living in the ice?

Nobody yet knows the answer.

This is just one of the many strange
mysteries that draw people to

work in a place that is
so hostile to human life.

While some scientists come to Erebus
to explore its bizarre ice caves,

others visit the volcano to study
the innermost workings of our planet.

Erebus is one of the most active
volcanoes on Earth,

but even so, volcanologists work on
the very rim of its crater.

They stand in the bitter cold,
while 100 metres below them

is a lava lake where temperatures are
over a thousand degrees centigrade.

This is a rare glimpse
of the molten rock

that lies beneath
the earth's crust.

But research here is looking
up as well as down,

measuring how the gases that bubble
out of the volcano

influence the make-up of the air we
breathe.

Antarctica is the best place to
measure any changes in our atmosphere

because it has the least polluted air
on Earth.

It's also the perfect place to launch
more outward-looking missions.

This balloon, made of material no
thicker than Clingfilm,

will eventually grow to
be 300 metres tall.

It will carry a device for detecting
cosmic rays,

tiny particles from the beginning of
time that are only now reaching earth.

The balloon will travel to the very
edge of outer space

to gather clues about the formation
of the universe.

Even today, very few ever make
the journey inland from the coast.

We still know remarkably little
about the interior of the continent.

The people on this plane are trying to
answer one of the fundamental questions.

How much ice is there in Antarctica?

They measure
the depth of the ice sheet,

which is over 4,000 metres in places,
using radar.

Their work will enable us to see

how the volume of Antarctica's ice
changes in the future.

It also makes it possible to map
a hidden landscape.

This plane is following the same route
through the Trans-Antarctic Mountains

that Captain Scott took a hundred
years ago.

His team hauled their
sleds over a hundred

miles up this glacier,
the Beardmore.

Skirting seemingly endless crevasses,
with no map to guide them

and no idea of what lay ahead, it was
a journey of extraordinary suffering.

Their target lay beyond the
mountains,

over 3,000 metres above sea level,
on the Antarctic Plateau.

An unbroken sheet of ice,
larger than Western Europe,

this is the coldest, the windiest,
the most lifeless place on Earth.

Roald Amundsen's team narrowly
defeated Scott's to become

the first people to reach the South
Pole on the 14th of December 1911.

Nobody else successfully completed the
journey for nearly 50 years after that.

But, since 1957, there has been
a permanent base at the South Pole.

You can even land a plane on
the ice runway.

The early explorers
would be astounded by

the facilities at the
South Pole today.

Construction work isn't
easy when the average

summer temperature is minus
25 degrees Centigrade.

But, despite the difficulties, the
most high-tech scientific research

station ever built was
unveiled here in 2006.

The brand new Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station is designed to

cope with the World's most
extreme conditions.

The building's sloping edge deflects
the prevailing wind.

Beneath, there are stilts that can
raise the whole building

a further eight metres to keep
it above the accumulating snow.

Living inside is as close to being on a
space-station as you can find on Earth.

This base is totally self-sufficient,
the people are completely

cut off from the outside world for
more than half the year over winter.

The total darkness makes this the
perfect place to study the night sky.

The group of star gazers will be
the most isolated community on our

planet, but they will have
all their needs catered for.

There is even a greenhouse where
fresh vegetables grow under

artificial light all through
the darkest, coldest winter anywhere.

The sun sets in March at the South Pole,
and won't rise again for six months.

For a few days at this time of year,
high altitude clouds of ice crystals

continue to catch the
sunlight, even when

the sun itself is far
below the horizon.

But soon all trace of the sun
disappears,

and today's over-wintering scientists
remember the first explorers.

These men, who endured
the winter in flimsy wooden huts,

borrowed knowledge from the Arctic
pioneers before them,

but they came here to study and explore,
rather than to hunt or exploit.

They embodied the human spirit that has
enabled us to survive at the poles.

Here, we are pushed to our limits,
but in being pushed, humanity has

achieved the extraordinary
and opened up the last frontier.