All language subtitles for Lift.the.Ice.S01E01.The.Ice.Rises.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Here we have a slope which is

from 20 meters to
130 meters about.

Diving in polar
conditions requires

more equipment than usual.

I will also say that diving deep

in polar conditions
requires even more.

[divers speaking French]

Where the divers
are today has never

been seen by human eyes.

What this team is
doing is really

just getting that first glimpse

of what's down there.

[dramatic music playing]

This is the first time
all of us are seeing.

This is the first time anybody

on the planet is seeing this.

[dramatic music playing]

Oh my God, look at that.

This is what "Lift
the Ice" is all about.

I'm Dr. Diva Amon and
I'm a marine biologist.

I've been very lucky to
work all over the world.

Now I'm in the Arctic
because I believe

that under its ice are secrets

that will change the way
we look at our planet

and potentially
help us restore it.

Ecosystems are changing
at an unprecedented rate

which is why the race
is on to lift the ice

in search of a life-giving
Arctic habitat.

We have hope but we also know

a possibility is
to find nothing.

It's the game of exploration.

In vanishing glaciers
I'm looking for magic

powerful enough to
rebuild whole ecosystems.

That's ancestral ice.

Microorganisms have been
trapped for thousands of years.

And hunting for
baby ice dinosaurs

that could help us
prepare for our future.

I want to investigate
how the future

of these critical
ecosystems can be saved

by looking under the ice.

And the clock is ticking.

[dramatic music playing]

My journey starts here on a boat

deep in the Arctic Circle.

So we can see about five seals

in the distance over there.

We're not sure what species yet.

And then beyond that,

just the most enormous glacier.

Oh my God.

The first big surprise
in the Arctic is

just how much life there is.

But what's feeding this
cold barren wilderness?

To get the answer,
I'll need to dive

into these fearsome
Arctic waters

just shy of the North Pole.

I might be sailing

to the weather battered
southern tip of Svalbard

but this 100 foot vessel is

a tiny slice of France.

Partnering with
French scientists,

this team of highly
skilled crew are hunting

for life-giving habitats
in these icy waters.

So this is really the frontier

of ocean exploration
and science.

There has been very
little exploration

in the dark Arctic waters

and that's what this
team is here to do.

[Crew member] Hello Diva.

[speaking French]

How are you doing?

[Crew member] Good.

[speaking French]

Welcome aboard.

[Diva] Thank you.

We know that life
in the Arctic is

powered by the ocean.

It starts with the
phytoplankton and the kelp

and ends with the polar
bears and the walruses.

But actually it's
everything that's in between

that's a bit of a mystery still.

Yesterday we were
on the south coast

but we did not find the forest

we were looking for.

So here we are
exploring the south part

of Spitsbergen and let's see.

We only work on deep
dives with one mission,

two mission, three
mission in advance.

You know, the logistics,

the permits, the
equipment, the funding,

it's a full-time
job for a big team.

[Diva] The team are
risking life and limb

diving to new depths

because they believe
there's a missing link

in the food chain hiding in

the deep, dark, mesophotic zone.

Life in the mesophotic zone is

really defined by light.

When there's shallows is

where there's lots of sunlight.

You've got lots of
life because there's

so much energy in food.

But once you begin to go deeper

and the light
begins to diminish,

it means that life
is a bit harder.

It has to be animals that don't

rely on the sun, right?

They cannot be photosynthesizing

like the plants in the shallows.

We have found
one animal forest,

a good one, a nice one

with a lot of biodiversity

so that's an important result.

And it means also that for sure

there are some others.

[Diva] Yep.

It's harder to find
them because it's unknown.

[Diva] These deep
animal built habitats are

why the team is here.

I've studied these
little islands of life

in warmer waters where
they're better known.

But these divers
are the only people

to ever see them in the Arctic.

And now they're
hunting for more.

With all of this ocean to cover

it's like a needle

in a very inhospitable haystack.

Yesterday we dove over there.

Today we dive on the north shore

because of the wind.

Here we have a slope which is

from 20 meters to
130 meters about

with a good angle.

So that is good for us

because in the same dive we can

target the different depths

that we are searching for.

[speaking French]

I cannot fathom getting

into the water right now.

It is incredibly
technical to dive

at these extreme depths.

In these situations
it can become

a matter of life or
death very quickly.

Divers are just doing

their final checks
as you can see.

They just carry
so much equipment

it's just extremely cumbersome.

And they actually need someone

to help them during
the final checks,

working through everything

from checking the
seals to make sure

they're not
compromised in any way.

And by the time they're ready

to get in the water,

they actually have about

90 kilograms of gear on them

which is basically
another adult,

quite a large adult.

[laughing]

This is a heater you see

so we're gonna
make a test, Erwan.

Yeah.

I put it on one
and you tell me

if it's heating right now.

Yeah.

And it's gloves, it's
heating gloves and coat?

Yeah, exactly.

[Diva] And feet?

- No.
- [Diva] No, no.

They just get cold.

It would be so much
easier with the feet.

[Diva] Yeah. [laughing]

[divers chatting]

[water splashing]

Let me explain why
I'm not over the moon

about getting in this water.

It's so cold it
sometimes freezes over.

Without the gear, you'd
be dead in minutes.

This one's a less
than leisurely dive

to 100 meters for two hours.

It's ghostly dark
and you're looking

for something that's only ever

been seen once before.

This might sound like
the stuff of nightmares

but this team lives for it.

So we've just entered
the mesophotic zone.

What this team is
doing is really

just getting that first glimpse

of what's down there.

I've never been to space.

I would love to but
there are some parallels

like an astronaut
getting a special suit

to go into space.

For me, deep diving
is really a voyage

in what I call a parallel world.

The deeper you go,

the more rare the voyage is.

I can't believe
how little there is.

It's not at all what I imagined.

[Emmanuelle] It looks
like it's very poor.

[Diva] Yeah.

Right now I've not
much hope on this dive.

I mean, I'm pretty
surprised this is

the first time we've
obviously been able

to get eyes on the sea floor

at this depth in the Arctic

but I'm pretty surprised
at how little there is.

I imagined like lots of sponges.

It may be just a
site specific thing.

Given there's much
more currents,

it means that it's swept away

a lot of the thin sediment

or it's buried and
now we've been left

with smaller rocks and shells

and because that is
unstable and can move a lot,

it means that those
animals like corals,

like sponges, like hydroids
that create habitat

just are completely unable
to anchor themselves.

And I mean these dives,

there have been how many dives

done on this trip?

40, 50, maybe.

40 or 50 dives and I mean each

of those is just a point,

a point sample.

[Emmanuelle] Yeah.

[Diva] No animal forest
but the dive hasn't

been a total bust.

They brought back
some tantalizing clues

of the kind of life
we're looking for.

Yeah, that's definitely
a hard coral.

[Emmanuelle] Yeah.

[Crew member] Maybe the first
one we're seeing actually.

[Diva] Is it?

[Crew member]
Yeah, I think so.

Oh wow.

So it's a structure
forming coral

and it's the first one

you guys have seen, right?

For this whole expedition
so that's really exciting.

Actually, it's
kind of a good thing

'cause there could be more

on other sites forming
maybe a forest.

[Emmanuelle] Maybe not far.

Maybe not far.

The coral we found
today was a real clue

that there are perhaps
marine animal forests

made of corals close by.

We know with marine
animal forests,

they can be made of corals,

they can be made of sponges,

they can be made of hydroids.

But what is common between
all of those things is

that they are a
three-dimensional structure.

They provide this sort
of complex framework

for lots of other animals

and species to live within.

We expected maybe
to find nothing.

Of course we have hope.

We would not have
come but we also know

a possibility is to find
nothing in two months.

So it's the game of exploration.

But this far north,

the dangers don't only
come from the depths,

they also come from the skies.

[speaking French]

So I hear the
weather's not looking

so good for tomorrow.

What's the plan?

Yeah, it's changing fast

but in the afternoon
the wind is really up

so there will be
no dive tomorrow.

[Diva] Okay.

Certainly not after tomorrow.

[Diva] 'Cause it gets worse.

[Emmanuelle] Yeah.

While storm clouds
gather over our hunt

for life supporting habitats,

another team halfway
across the world is

racing to a dying
glacier in the hope

of seeking out the
healing magic within.

On land glaciers sterilize
entire landscapes.

The ice's relentless grinding

destroys everything in its path.

This area was recently
covered by a glacier.

It should be barren.

And yet, well just look at it.

Could whatever is
triggering the birth

of a new ecosystem
be used to revitalize

other ecosystems
around the world?

The habitats of Venezuela's
tropical Andes are

on the front line
of climate change.

And the Humboldt
Glacier is literally

the last one standing which is

why this team is here.

All of these mountains were
once covered by glaciers.

So you can imagine
that all of these was

an enormous glacier
here a long time ago.

But now what we have left is

a little bowl of
coconut ice cream

on the top of the Humboldt peak

and it will disappear
because the rate

of melting is too high.

We have 10 kilometers
in front of us today.

[Diva] Barbara believes
that whatever is triggering

this explosion of new
life is actually locked

inside the very thing

that destroyed this
ecosystem in the first place,

the Humboldt Glacier.

So that's the wall
we need to climb up

which is going to
take us that way.

The glacier is right there.

[speaking Spanish]

[Diva] The climb
isn't the only uphill

challenge these scientists face.

The political situation
in Venezuela means

that funding is
difficult to find.

This glacier is not waiting

for any checks to cash.

Now is the time,

potentially the last
chance for Barbara

and her team to understand

the mysteries locked in the ice.

So they'll struggle on
with or without support.

[speaking Spanish]

The glacier lies at an
altitude of 16,000 feet

like they're climbing
halfway up Mount Everest.

With this being
potentially their

last visit to the glacier,

the team can't risk
altitude sickness.

We think in one
1/2 hour we should

be on the glacier

if we keep walking
continuously but slowly.

So it's difficult
to say what I feel

when I come to the glacier.

It's a mixture of very
different feelings.

I feel happy.

I feel grateful.

I feel nostalgic.

I feel sad.

It's just difficult to explain.

I can see the crevice is
much bigger all around.

The last time we had

little crevices
around the glacier.

Now we have all these

and that means these will

be melting down pretty soon.

It's really smaller I can say.

Based on the last
satellite picture,

it's a bit more
than two hectares.

That's about the size

of about five football pitches.

In 1910, it spanned
about four square miles,

but today less than 1% remains.

What we see here is

core ice from the
glacier exposed.

That's ancestral ice.

And in there millions of
microorganisms have been trapped

for thousands of years.

[speaking Spanish]

Some of them get adapted
to these conditions,

some others just don't survive.

And some others are
in a dormant stage

waiting for the right
moment to wake up.

Ice keeps biological
activity to a bare minimum

so the rock below is
almost sterile of life.

The moment that
the ice disappears,

it triggers a remarkable
set of events.

Released from its icy prison,

the rock is exposed to the world

for the first time in millennia.

Sleeping cellular
survivors have waited

for just this moment.

This is the microbes'
time to shine

as a bit of warmth and fresh air

kick-starts these
tiny terraformars.

Using nitrogen in
the air and feeding

on minerals in the rock,
they multiply quickly.

Fast forward, the rock has gone

from wasteland to wonderland

as an organic layer
of microbes forms.

They are link one

in an ever expanding food chain.

And so the glacier has all

but breathed life back
into the landscape.

[speaking Spanish]

We think that
even if most of life

that's in the glacier is going

to be lost forever,

there is a part of it that is

going just to transform

the bare rock down
there in life.

It's thanks to the
microbes in here

that the new ecosystem is

going to form down there.

So I would say the glacier
is not dying in vain.

[Diva] As Barbara walks down

to where the ice used to be,

it's like she's
traveling back in time.

This is where she
can piece together

how the ecosystem went
from its first baby steps

after the ice to
running all on its own.

So this is the place

where the glacier
was located in 1910.

It has been more than 100 years

and this ecosystem
is still forming.

Hidden to our eyes
within the soil,

there are lots of things

happening which are essential

to the functioning
of any ecosystem.

The microbes in soil are
performing very important

and special tasks
for transformation

of the nutrients
that plants need.

So this is a really important

piece of the puzzle.

How do we get from a
micro mat of microbes

to a complex carpet of life?

The only way to reveal
what's happening is

by speeding things up a little.

Take this lump of
rock, for example.

Let's condense 60
years into 60 seconds.

That microbial layer
forms relatively quickly

providing the crucial
organic foundation

that helps other
organisms get a foothold

in this tough environment.

The next to settle
in are the lichens.

Feeding off the
microbial activity,

this incredible
organism can grow

almost anywhere in the world.

And their job is to break
down organic material

and even rock into soils.

And soil is the key that unlocks

the rest of the
ecosystem puzzle.

Plants can join the party

providing shelter and food

for small and big animals alike.

It's the circle of life
reborn from the ice.

One of the more amazing

results the project got

is that in these
harsh environments,

cooperation between
the living forms is

much more important
than competition.

It's really about helping
each other to struggle

against the harsh
environmental conditions.

[Diva] If these
microbes can do

all this to bare rock,

imagine how they might be able

to restore damaged
ecosystems around the world.

Nobody knows how
ecosystems are going

to respond to climate change.

Understanding how such
a succession happens,

how the colonization of
the bare rock happens,

gives insights
into understanding

how absolutely
destroyed ecosystems can

be rebuilt through
ecological restoration.

So all that gives
us some optimism.

While there's hope reborn

from this dying glacier,

it's made possible
because it's easy to spot.

The dark depths of
the Arctic Ocean,

on the other hand are

a much harder place to search.

And our hunt for
elusive, life-giving

habitats is frustratingly
still on hold.

So we're really just seeing

the situation
completely deteriorate.

This is not the
kind of situation

that you want to be
out in the open ocean.

And out there it's far worse,

like 40 to 50 knots of wind,

extremely rough seas.

We've had to flee
into this fjord

deep into the fjord

to take shelter until it passes.

It's completely changed

the plans of the expedition.

Now diving is off the
table until it passes

and we're just gonna have

to continue monitoring
the situation until then.

We're burning valuable
exploration time

but there's nothing we can do

except hide below deck
and plan our next move.

[speaking French]

We are 14 on board,
six to eight divers.

We have a cook.

We have a doctor,
mechanics, sailors.

It's the team that allows us

to do the mission because
you cannot dive alone.

What's it like
living, working, eating,

sleeping with 14 people
all in the same space?

Actually we have been
doing that all our lives.

It's a part of our
family way of life.

Here is a place.

[Diva] It's the kitchen.

[Emmanuelle] Tanguy is
cooking for 14 persons.

[Diva] What are
you making Tanguy?

Salty cake.

[Diva] Salty cake.

And what did you put inside?

Cheese and...

[speaking French]

chorizo.

- Chorizo.
- Chorizo?

- Yeah.
- [Diva] Mm.

That sounds lovely.

It's an expedition.

Of course it can be
more comfortable.

Everything we prepare,
everything we do,

we have to do it really with

how do you say?

[Diva] A lot of thought?

Yeah, exactly.

Very extreme dives we are doing.

The danger would really be

that we think it's easy.

I remember my first
very deep dive.

I was going to 120 meters.

[Diva] 120?

Yeah.

And I was just like
really focused.

I'd just spent a few
hours in the water

and I was coming out
and Tom was there

and was like, "Mom, where
is my small red car?"

[Diva laughing]

Just like if I was coming back

from the shop, you know.

The weather may
have cleared for now,

but it's a sign

that the dive window
is closing fast.

It's not all bad news though

as there's still
plenty to explore

at their recent discovery site.

We're gonna steam north

to a known marine
animal forest site,

one that was discovered

earlier in the expedition.

They're gonna be doing

a lot more science
to help characterize

this forest that they've found.

So what makes this
site special compared

to the more barren habitats

that they've explored?

There are no trees this deep.

Instead shelter is offered
by stationary animals

like corals and sponges.

They are step one.

This attracts the
little creatures

like crabs and shrimps

that now have a
sanctuary in which

to live and rear
their offspring.

But as always, big
fish eats little fish

and predators now
arrive on the scene.

And this is how a
marine animal forest

becomes a vibrant oasis of life

set against the sparse
Arctic sea floor.

The biodiversity flowing
from this hotspot

could be the missing
link that makes

all that top side
Arctic life possible.

But warming seas may be
damaging these habitats,

affecting the health
of the wider ecosystem.

Another mystery that
the team is trying

to solve before it's too late.

Damaged marine
animal forests could

impact the whole ocean

including the fish
on our own tables.

And as the only team to study

an Arctic marine animal forest,

this means a lot
rests on the neoprene

covered shoulders
of the French team.

For the dive today,

we are on the scientific site.

I think it's the last day here

maybe weather depending.

[speaking French]

Four of us will get prepared

and jump into the water.

[water splashing]

How absolutely
brave these guys are.

[speaking French]

This is really the
limits of diving.

Not only are they
going to depths

that so few people go to,

this is in polar conditions.

This is as tough as it gets.

It won't be long until
this whole area will

be locked in pack ice

making these dives impossible.

So they have to make
this final dive count.

Even though they
found it before,

finding it again isn't so easy

in the vast darkness.

We're just following
the divers down now,

keeping up with them.

And now we're in more hydroids,

less kelp if you can just see.

Oh my God.

Wow, it is massive.

Yeah, look, look.

Whoa.

There it is in front of us,

this beautiful
marine animal forest

that stretches as far
as the eye can see,

just hydroids upon hydroids

and lots of different species.

Look at that spider crab.

Wow.

I bet he's surprised to see us.

Sunlight struggles to
reach these depths.

It looks like there's no color

but if you bring your own light,

then the colors just
burst back to life.

This is why we do what we do.

Seeing something
for the first time

that no one on the
planet has seen

and really being part
of true exploration.

It's just such a moment.

This team should be so proud

to have discovered this
incredible habitat,

a home to all kinds
of biodiversity.

As far as the eye
can see this forest

of what look like plants

but are in fact animals.

These hydroids are
acting like trees

that are providing homes

to a huge diversity
and a huge abundance

of other species and life.

We have a lot of life
underwater in the Arctic

and if we find it here,

it's sure that we
have more of them.

[Diva] Yeah.

[Emmanuelle] This gives also
sense to what we are doing.

Today was maybe the best dive.

We just observed and
sampled some more hydroids

with the biodiversity associated

with the different species.

So it's more data

for the upcoming analysis.

So I'm just
completely blown away.

I mean it's amazing

that you guys have
discovered this.

Yes, it's new

but there is just always

something so humbling, right?

About being amongst the
first people to see this.

These are ecosystems that up

until a couple weeks ago,

we didn't know existed here.

How important this find is,

how important this ecosystem is,

is something that
scientists are gonna

have to work for
a very long time

to try to understand.

That work starts as soon

as we have prepped the samples

in the ship's makeshift lab.

But we're not just finding
ecosystem saving clues

in present day
Arctic landscapes.

In Alaska there's a
team that's uncovered

a window into the lives
of prehistoric creatures.

Legendary Arctic dinosaurs
once walked this land.

Like a frozen "Jurassic Park,"

their lives may help us prepare

for future ecosystems
affected by climate change.

So the big overarching goal

of this dig is to
access OJsaurus.

OJsaurus is a bone bed

about halfway up a cliff.

That layer of rock is
precariously perched

under a cliff that in
the summer months has

a nasty tendency to just
suddenly slough off,

come down potentially on

someone's head and kill them.

But in the winter it's frozen

and it's a safe time
to access the layer.

This site is just so good.

It's worth kind of
the extra challenge

of going out in the
winter to excavate it.

[Diva] From the
Badlands to Mongolia,

paleontologists are used
to extreme locations

but this is something else.

The team is driving
across treacherous

snow roads to a frozen river

in Alaska's remote North Slope.

We're now at our campsite.

We're about 7/10 of a
mile from our dig site.

It's gorgeous, very different

from the Montana
field work I've done.

I was a part of the first crew

to do this in the winter

and I'm back for round 2.

It's something that not

a lot of people get to do,

come up to the
Arctic in the winter

to dig up dinosaurs.

Can you really beat that?

The plan for tomorrow,

head over to the sites,

and we do need to set
up that other tent,

and get that up and running.

I'm here to help the team do

whatever needs to be done.

I've never been here before.

In fact I hadn't been north

of Fairbanks on this
road so this is,

I'm used to camp in cold

but not up here.

It's a preemptive challenge.

I guess when we
get up tomorrow

if you just start

to hear camp stir a little bit,

usually that'll be the start

of the process and
then an offering

to the fossil gods.

[chuckling]

[Jim] That's right.

That's why we bring
the grad students along.

This was supposed
to be the calm day

but actually the
wind's picked up,

30 with wind chill.

Things we have to watch out for

in weather like this,

your nose or your cheek,

any exposed skin
will get frost nipped

or frost bitten really quickly.

So just taking care of
each other is important.

Every year throughout
the summer,

the river floods those banks

and it causes the
cliffs to collapse.

And that's gonna make
a huge difference

as to whether we can
easily access the layer.

So the next 1/2 hour is

make or break for this trip.

[Diva] Task number 1,
Patrick needs to find pay dirt.

That's the razor thin layer

where a bonanza of bones lurk.

It's called the
OJsaurus bone bed.

It was only found about
six or seven years ago.

And what was frustrating was

every summer we came here,

we'd be on our boats

coming down the Colville,

we'd pull up to this beach,

and we'd find really interesting

bones on the beach

but we couldn't tell
where the bones came from.

Finally about seven years ago,

we brought along
some climbing gear

and we repelled off
the top of the cliff

and then we knew that's where

all the good stuff came from.

Every time we find a
bone layer like that,

that's pure gold.

Layers that are
producing different kinds

of dinosaurs, not just one kind,

but meat eaters
and plant eaters,

big ones, small ones,
fish, birds, mammals,

it's all in that layer.

It's spectacular stuff.

And what I'm looking for is

this one particular layer,

kind of a light
colored orangish layer.

We have bone!

So this is the layer right here.

I can see a bone sticking out

right there, there,
there, there.

It's another bone right here.

The layer is about
15 centimeters thick.

And that's the good stuff.

And I'm just very, very relieved

to see that 'cause this has

been a year of planning.

And you can see these cliffs,

they just rearrange
themselves every summer

and you just don't know
if it's gonna be here.

Working in the Arctic at
any time is challenging.

Working in the Arctic
in winter is doubly so.

And I think negative 40 is

a really hard thing to imagine

until you're in it.

[Patrick] One of the
biggest challenges,

of course, is just
coping with the cold,

simply operating equipment.

We're using generators and we're

running jackhammers
and chainsaws.

We set up a dedicated field tent

next to the dig site

that we have a wood
burning stove in

so that we can actually

warm the generators
for an hour or two

just to get them
kind of warmed up

before we take them
outside, start them up.

You can watch
some documentaries

that have shown
what this is like

but I think it's
almost impossible

to understand how cold it is

until you're just out
in it with no shelter.

[Diva] Having
found their fossils,

the team now need to
prepare their dig site.

The fallen debris from
the summer months is

covering up the bulk
of the fossil layer

so they need to chisel through

this frozen dirt to
extract their blocks.

[Jim] That rock is solid.

It is so frozen.

It's amazing how solid it is.

Everything is jumbled up.

It's like dinosaurs in a blender

and that is all accumulating

at the bottom of
this river channel

in little pockets that
we call lag deposits.

It's all a jumble.

And so every single
bone is a potential clue

to who was living
on that landscape.

That's the good stuff.

I'm just gonna pop that one

out of the way real quick.

Our first rock, one
of the nice things

about this is that there's

pretty big bones in here

but there's also
a lot of really,

really small bones and teeth.

Some of the most interesting

information about
dinosaurs comes

from these very small bones.

And some of the smallest bones

we're finding are
from baby dinosaurs.

[Diva] Below this
icy surface lie secrets

to an Arctic Dino world
73 million years ago.

Patrick's efforts are helping

to open a whole new
window into their lives.

Lifting away the
layers of history,

we find a very different world.

What's interesting to us is just

how much warmer it was back then

but the winters still
dipped well below freezing.

A cold-blooded herd of hadrosaur

and their babies would've had

just two options in
an Arctic winter,

migrate south or perish.

But the sheer number
of fossils suggest

that dinosaurs resided
here year round.

The even bigger
find is the presence

of so many infant bones.

So how could adult dinosaurs,

let alone their
babies survive here

in the winter if they
were truly cold-blooded?

We were really
shocked to find out

that dinosaurs were actually

nesting up here in the Arctic.

It opened up a whole
'nother can of worms

to endure four months
of winter darkness

and freezing
temperatures and snow.

That's not the kind of thing

we usually think of
dinosaurs living in

but the evidence
comes from layers

like this and the baby bones

and teeth that we find.

The thing that
keeps me coming back

to the North Slope
and studying dinosaurs

in this crazy environment is

because they represent
something unlike

anything that lives
on planet Earth today.

A polar forest with
dinosaurs roaming

at latitudes practically
at the North Pole.

We've always sort
of pictured them

as lizard like
cold-blooded animals

that must have been restricted

to living into warm
tropical environments.

But picture instead

dinosaurs walking through snow.

Think about following
a trail of footprints

of a tyrannosaur in the snow.

That's the kind of vision

you have to have for dinosaurs

that lived in this
area in Alaska.

So I think this is a
really important point.

Here are creatures that adapted

to a warmer arctic ecosystem,

generated new life and evolved

to survive the Arctic winter.

If they hadn't, they
would've died out.

In the face of our
warming climate,

can we use these
clues to predict

how our ecosystems might
adapt in the future?

Ice.

Sort of jack hammer it down

about a meter and
a half of rock here

to come right down
on top of our layer

which is right here.

And now that we have
that overburden removed,

we can pull out the chainsaw.

[saw buzzing]

The chainsaws are
pretty critical

to our operation because we want

to remove distinct
blocks of rock.

We don't want to
just hammer into it

with a jackhammer and
break out fragments.

We want large pieces
so that we can

hopefully find large,
fairly intact bones

inside of those blocks.

Yea!

Ughh.

We have a block.

So right here you can see a big

kind of brown cross section

and that's a bone
that we cut through.

There's a flattish bone.

Right here is another one.

And you can sort of see that

there's a difference
between the sand,

the bone layer, and the
underlying mud layer.

So it's a really
nice cross section

through the layer of rock

and you can see the size

of the bones that are in there.

[Jim] Another one right here.

Yeah, and there's probably-

[Jim] There's
a bunch over here

in this back wall.

It came out even better

than we thought it would.

It's frozen so hard.

We don't have to
do anything else

to this for the
entire trip home.

We just throw that in
the back of the truck,

drive down the highway,
and we're good to go.

Yeah, we'll start lining 'em up

down the hill in order

that we take them out,

kind of a relative order.

All right.

We're gonna take out as
many blocks as possible.

This weather is perfect.

We're not gonna waste a minute.

We're just gonna keep bringing

in blocks and block and block

until we run out
of time or energy.

[jackhammer drilling]

[saw buzzing]

Yeah.

Okay, ready to go?

Here we go.

Well now that we've pulled
out all these blocks,

I want to keep a record
of their arrangement

as they were in the quarry.

So I've made a quarry map

and I'm just giving
every block a kind

of 1A, 1B, 1C,

2A, 2B, 2C pattern.

The reason this is important is

if I find a bone sticking out

of the edge of block 3B,

I'll know that the equivalent,

the rest of the other half

of the bone might
be here located

in block 2B and so forth.

The expedition this
season so far has

been really productive.

I'm happy how it's gone.

We're already well ahead
of last year's haul.

By the end of the day,

we might even just knock it

out of the park.

Okay, we're ready to go.

Got a box of bones.

Let's take that
back to the trucks.

[engines revving]

[Diva] Let's be honest,

if exploration was easy,

everyone would be doing it.

We know it's a gamble.

You're either gonna
find something or not.

So far it looks like
the risks the team took

working in -30 have paid off

but only the lab
will show for sure.

[Patrick] There we go.

Over 73 million years,

the bones have become
a soup of contents

which Patrick and his team need

to piece back together.

As the ice thaws,
the blocks turn

back into dust and
release the bones.

They found many species
at the research site,

including some
unknown to science.

Herbivores were
common but Patrick has

also found evidence
of predators.

This is a cold adapted
tyrannosaur species.

Finding an apex
predator suggests

that many species evolved

to survive this
arctic environment.

But what we still
wanted the fossils

to reveal was how
the dinosaurs adapted

to survive the polar winters?

Were they warm-blooded?

That's been this big
question for years.

One of the hallmark features

of a warm-blooded animal is

that they have
rapid growth rates

so they grow up quickly.

For example, a crocodile,

they grow at a slow rate

throughout their entire life.

They progressively get
bigger, bigger, bigger.

So an individual
dinosaur might have

been like five or eight

or 10 or 15 years old.

We can actually see that

in the growth bands by looking

at cross sections of bones.

And what we've found
is that in fact,

many dinosaurs have
growth rates comparable

to what we see in living
warm-blooded animals.

From a very young animal,

they grew very
rapidly to adult size.

They are very much
warm-blooded animals

and that in turn
allowed them to live

in not just cold environments

but environments that
were seasonally dark

for months on end.

The fact that we have now
successfully conducted

something that's
pretty much unheard

of in our field

which are winter expeditions

above the Arctic Circle,

it was worth the effort

to dig this one layer,
the golden layer.

The evidence that
Patrick and his team have

uncovered is
helping to transform

our knowledge of
Arctic dinosaurs.

If these creatures
needed to evolve

so drastically to survive
this change in climate,

it likely means
many other species

didn't adapt and became extinct.

But back in Svalbard,
I'm hoping my examination

of a different kind of nursery

could prevent a modern
day extinction scenario.

[Hugo] So this is from
50 meters collected today.

[Diva] Hey.

[Hugo] A spider crab.

I'm actually pretty shocked

at how much life is in here.

It's this stem of
hydroid that is

about 20 centimeters long

and there's so many different
types of crustaceans.

There's sea spiders,
there's crabs.

There's a lot happening.

It just shows that
this hydroid does serve

this function as this
like tree in a forest.

Amongst those samples were all

of these juvenile spider crabs.

And that was really
the first indication

that marine animal forests might

play this critical role
of acting as a nursery

to lots of different species.

It matters because we
are also connected to this.

People live on fishes, crabs,

on the resources of this forest

so if we destroy them,

we lose all the biodiversity

linked to this forest.

And that could
potentially have

knock-on effects
to other species

in the Arctic, right?

Yes.

There's so much
we don't understand

about the extent to
which we rely on it.

We know we rely on it

but it's like how
much do we rely on it?

How much do other
species rely on it?

These samples were really just

such a clear indication
of how important

these marine animal forests are.

They play a key role
in being a sanctuary

and a nursery for lots
of different animals.

It's just beginning
to give us the clues

that marine animal forests are

an essential part of the
Arctic ocean ecosystem.

There is no question
that the ecosystems

of the cryosphere
are under threat

from climate change
and the consequences

could transform our lives.

But if we lift the ice

and explore the secrets below,

we can see that there is hope.

We just need to grasp
those opportunities,

those lessons, that future

before it melts away.

[dramatic music playing]