All language subtitles for 6_English66

*

*

NARRATOR: Summer in Antarctica.

The temperature is almost always
below freezing.

Storms can hit in a heartbeat,
and last for weeks.

CHRISTIAN: I guess we've been in
this tent, what, about 16 hours?

That's snow right there.

LARS: We're in some pretty thick
ice here.

MAN: I can't see [bleep]
anymore.

NARRATOR: But as brutal
as summer can be,

winter is much worse.

24 hours of darkness.

Winds at up to
200 miles per hour.

And almost no flights
on or off the continent.

Most science grinds to a halt

as humanity races
to flee winter's wrath.

Now, it's just days away.

WOMAN: Winter is coming!

NARRATOR:
And time is running out.

ROHAN: It's getting to the point

where now we haven't got
much data.

So, we really need to get
some information.

REGINA: Gun!

BEN: Oh [bleep]
Right behind us!

NARRATOR: To escape
the frozen continent.

ROB: Well, it's really,
very much unknown out here.

We need to get all the equipment
and everything ready.

WALKER: We're at the beginning
of the culmination

of our mission.

MORRISON: Shut down. Fire.

FIREMAN: Smoke in Aux One.

WALKER: Ocean Giant, break away,
we have a collision imminent.

*

*

ARI FRIEDLAENDER:
We're not getting anything.

I just want to hear it and know
that we're in the right place.

NARRATOR: It's the end
of the first night in months.

ARI: We're like right
in the middle of the bay

right now, too.

NARRATOR: Starting now, daylight
will decrease every day

until it quickly disappears
altogether.

ARI: We've got
about two or three hours

before we have to start leaving
to get home.

First light, we're gonna get
into a Zodiac to find the tag.

NARRATOR: Dr. Ari Friedlaender
and his team

have spent weeks studying
humpback and minke whales,

using dart biopsy and
suction-mounted data loggers

to study the marine ecosystem
as the climate changes.

ARI: These whales are one part
of a very big ecosystem,

but the more things we can learn
about whales

makes it easy to understand
how changes in the environment

will affect our ecosystem
in the future.

There's nothing.

Not getting anything back.

Well, that sucks.

NARRATOR: But tagging a whale
means nothing

if they can't recover
the device,

and with the savage Antarctic
winter bearing down on them,

their expedition ends tomorrow.

ARI: The suction cup tags
archive all the data on them,

so we have to retrieve that tag
to get anything back.

Uh, the tag has
a VHF transmitter in it, though,

that sends out a signal every
time the tag is at the surface,

and we use a handheld antenna,

like you would
in any other field,

to locate where that whale is.

There are still several things
that could possibly go wrong.

First off, the whale may decide
to leave this bay and take off

and go somewhere
completely out of range.

The other possibility is that
the tag comes off the whale

and it ends up under sea ice,
and if that's the case,

if the antenna
from the VHF transmitter

isn't in air, we won't hear it.

[chirping]

Uh.

That was a good hit.

Not consistent.

[chirp]

Yep, just heard it.

[chirp]

That was a good hit.

The gain is up really high,

which means that we're
probably pretty far.

We're still about five miles
from that glacier face

where we tagged it.

When we got
a couple of good hits,

that's probably an arch,
when it's diving,

the antenna hits
a little higher,

and those little low beeps

are probably just when
it's low in the water.

That sound is so comforting,
though,

just to know
that you're near the tag.

I'll feel much better
when I get the tag back.

Cool.

Morning's gonna be
kind of nerve-racking.

NICK: Yeah, you'll probably
want to go out early

before first light.

ARI: Yeah, for sure.

NICK: Let's find these whales.

*

WRIGHT: Helmsman,
steady on course 155.

HELMSMAN:
Steady on course 155, aye.

NARRATOR: The U.S. Coast Guard
cutter Polar Star

is at the mouth
of McMurdo Sound,

just a few miles from shore.

WRIGHT: Come all ahead, five.

HELMSMAN: All head five, aye.

NARRATOR:
The crew spent the last week

smashing a path through the ice,

to allow a cargo ship
to reach the continent.

Now, the Ocean Giant is here.

MATTHEW WALKER:
We're at the beginning

of the culmination
of our mission.

WRIGHT: Alright everybody,
this is gonna be the brief

for the close ice escort
of motor vessel Ocean Giant.

As Polar Star, we'll break
a course through the channel

to the approach channel.

WALKER: I'll, uh, you guys
can see this,

we have the Ocean Giant
about four miles away.

We're sitting here
at the fast ice edge,

ready to escort her
into McMurdo.

Any questions?

Continue, ops.

WRIGHT: Aye, aye.

SPOTTER: Aloftcon, fantail,
we see 1,100 yards, over.

WOMAN: Fantail, aloftcon,
1,100 yards.

WALKER: Ocean Giant,
Polar Star 1-6, over.

WALKER: In the procedure
I would like to have you remain

300 yards off our stern,
following in our wake.

It's gonna be up close
and personal at 300 yards.

WALKER: We look forward
to getting you through the ice.

Have a safe voyage.
We'll be right in front of you.

Get her underway, ops.

WRIGHT: Helm, center line
ahead, one.

Sir, we have the brash ice
coming up.

We're about a half mile
out from it.

WALKER: Roger.

NARRATOR: Brash ice is made up
of small chunks that remain

after large sheets
have been broken up.

Polar Star has to lead
the Ocean Giant through it,

to protect her hull
from being punctured.

WALKER: We'd like to proceed
at approximately three knots,

but we can adjust speed as you
feel comfortable, over.

WALKER: This is the most
high-risk maneuver

that a ship captain can perform.

Two very, very large ships,

weighing hundreds of thousands
of tons,

operating in very,
very close quarters.

So we're not gonna have
very much reaction time

if something does occur.

SPOTTER: Aloftcon, flight deck,
we see 625 yards.

WALKER: We have to stay
close together,

'cause if he's
too far away from me,

I can't protect him
from the ice.

My ship is designed to push
that ice out of the way,

and his ship's designed
to carry cargo

and resupply the continent.

NARRATOR: To deflect
all the brash ice,

the Polar Star has to be
less than a thousand feet

in front of the Ocean Giant.

If the cutter stops
for any reason,

the 545-foot, 15,000-ton
container ship

won't have time
to avoid a collision.

MAN: So we're gonna go
with three on this side,

two more on that side.

Give me some slack here, man.

MAN: Let's drop this one down.

BRAUN: Putting the fendering
system together

on the stern here,

just kind of
a precautionary measure

if we do have to slow down

and they come up on our stern
a little too fast,

we've got some kind of buffer

to kind of save our hull
from getting damaged.

Double check your knots,

let them tie that on there,
grab another fender.

MAN: Roger.
BRAUN: Keep moving forward.

WRIGHT: I'd like to set the RMD.

MAN ON RADIO: Roger.

MAN: Now, set the Restrictive
Maneuvering Doctrine.

KARA BURNS: RMD is

the Restrictive Maneuvering
Doctrine.

Our sole goal is to keep the
lights on and propulsion going,

even if that means we're gonna
destroy a piece of equipment,

that's what we're gonna do,

because we don't want to put
the ship in danger.

NARRATOR:
As simple as it sounds,

propulsion has been
a major problem this season.

[rattling]

WALKER: Hey, what just happened?

NARRATOR: The 40-year-old ship

has already cracked
thrust bearings...

...and almost lost a critical
anti-rotation bar.

If she breaks down now,

the results would be
catastrophic.

WALKER: Ocean Giant,
in the event of an emergency

I am going to turn to port,

and I want you to turn
to starboard

and remain in the channel

and hug the west side
of the channel, over.

WALKER: This is the surgeon
cutting that last artery,

that if I miss that cut
the patient dies.

NARRATOR: Just to the north,

near the edge of the sea ice
in McMurdo Sound.

NARRATOR: After a season
of disappointment,

the marine megafauna team

has one last flight
to study killer whales.

NARRATOR: They're working
in the Ross Sea,

which makes up barely 3%
of the Southern Ocean...

but is home to thousands
of killer whales.

[killer whale squeaking]

Learning how these top predators
interact

with this unique ecosystem...

[squealing]

...could help world governments

establish the largest marine
protected area on the planet

and keep the complex
food web intact.

REGINA EISERT:
This is the last opportunity

to understand how our intact
marine ecosystem works.

We know what we need to do,
but we're almost out of time.

Our ideal scenario would be,
we go out every day,

we get lots of whales,
we get lots of photos

and lots of biopsy samples
and lots of GoPro footage.

We haven't gotten
a lot of samples yet.

It's frustrating
when I can't do my work.

ROHAN CURREY:
It's getting to the point

where now we haven't got
much data,

so we really need to get
some information.

NARRATOR: They're working
along the channel

opened by the Polar Star,
to find animals.

REGINA: See anything?

BEN SHARP: Not yet.

NARRATOR: But with winter
right around the corner,

their time on the ice
is nearly up.

REGINA: I see two penguins.

*

BEN: That ice is disintegrating
as fast as it is,

and it all coming apart,

the whales have so many options
for new places to feed

and places where we can't land
the helicopter,

because there's too many cracks
and too much crappy ice,

so we're stuck out here.

I didn't see anything,
and I don't know...

I don't know that we have
any options,

because we know the whales
are further west

and we know we can't go
further west...

REGINA: What happens
if we start walking?

BEN: That's a good question.

I would be willing to do it,
but you have to remember

these binoculars can see
a long ways,

and I haven't seen anything, so.

Regina is in charge,
so she will make decisions

about things like packing up,
leaving,

moving to other locations,
et cetera, and, you know,

I will freely acknowledge,
I'm, you know,

the most impatient
when there's not whales.

A bit of conflict
might be inevitable.

It would be a long walk.

REGINA: I suggest
it's what we do, please.

Why don't we just get the rifles
ready to go.

This is a modified
tranquilizer gun.

The dart has a biopsy tip on it,
and it's tethered to a line,

here, that goes
into the barrel like this.

BEN: Well, let's continue
with the gear that way.

REGINA: Okay, let's go that way.

BEN: I'll pull the sled.

REGINA: Of a choice
between going somewhere

and standing around,
I'm gonna go somewhere.

BEN: You know, this is
just about the same place

we were yesterday.

REGINA: That's true.

BEN: We got nothing.

REGINA:
You have to be very lucky

and you have to be
very determined.

We're getting
a bit desperate now

'cause it's the last week

and we're definitely
kind of extending it further,

we're just not willing to
give up on this season just yet.

[blows]

Ah!

BEN: [bleep]
Where's my [bleep] gun? [bleep]

They're right behind us.

Regina, wait!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, right there.

*

*

[blows]

REGINA: Ah!
[bleep]

NARRATOR: After a season
of frustration...

BEN: Right there.

NARRATOR: Regina and her team
have a killer whale in sight.

BEN: It's coming
towards the edge.

NARRATOR: Now they just need it
to be in range.

REGINA: Often the whales
pop up out of nowhere,

but you've got half a second
to take your aim,

because the thing's moving,

and you need to shoot it
while its moving,

and it's only above the water
for a very short period.

BEN: It's coming this way,
Rohan.

Right there. [bleep]

*

[pop]

REGINA: Hey!

BEN: Awesome!

ROHAN: Perfect.

REGINA: It's alright,
you're good.

BEN: There's a little piece
of blubber and skin,

it'll take a little piece
of skin,

smaller than the end
of my fingernail,

but that's enough for us
to do genetics

and also stable isotope
analysis.

Stable isotopes
allow us to position

where the animal's eating
in the food chain,

and so it helps us
to reconstruct

what the diet of the whale is.

Once we match those
with the photo IDs,

we start to understand
family structure

and population size.

NARRATOR:
Information from a single whale

helps the team learn
about the individual,

but multiple samples
help them understand

a section of the population,

and that's the goal they've been
working toward all season.

BEN: Regina!

Regina!

REGINA: There's the other one.

Success is if you get
any samples,

but we need as many
killer whales as we can.

ROHAN: There's a big male
out over here.

BEN: There he is.

[pop]

Got him?
Yup, he reacted.

ROHAN: So there's a group
right out over there.

BEN: There's more out there.

REGINA: I hate to say it, but I
told you there would be whales.

BEN: Saw another one coming.

[whale blows]

Go ahead, go ahead.
Go for the other gun.

REGINA: Where's the other rifle?

BEN: Go for the other gun
right there.

*

[pop]

BEN: Got her?

I didn't even see it.

Good shot.

REGINA: I'm very pleased
with our samples

because it was a lot of work
getting them.

As opposed to some days

you've got 50 whales
milling around

and they're just
all over the place

and you don't know
what to shoot first.

We had to run
up and down the ice edge,

and there were one or two
animals at a time,

we had to chase them.

BEN: Woo hooo.

Well, we finally saw
some whales.

We had to move fast
to get to them.

Here we go!
Here we go!

He's closer.

He's right there, right there.

[pop]

Nice shot.

Regina just, um, got a biopsy

from that second big male
in that group.

Nice. Right there.

We got six biopsies.

REGINA: Hey!

BEN: I think we did really good
on the photo IDs.

That first group was the same
group over and over again,

so we probably got
that whole family group.

Regina found a place
where the whales are,

Regina ended up getting
the biopsies and got good data.

As we work it up, we're going to
be able to do a lot with it.

Good day.

Alright, we did good.

[blows]

*

*

[beep beep]

TOM ARNOLD: This is
a satellite phone,

so it's connecting
through orbital satellites,

um, so we can phone back
to Scott Base to check in.

NARRATOR:
The Ross Ice Shelf team

is hundreds of miles
from any base,

to study a giant ice cube
the size of France.

TOM: We're gonna get
on the move.

NARRATOR:
Over the next three years,

they hope to learn
about the ice shelf's past

in order to help predict
its future.

Because this frozen mass
acts like a dam,

and the ice sheet behind it
is like a frozen river.

If the dam breaks, the river
will flow into the ocean,

in this case unleashing
26 million gigatons,

threatening coastal areas
across the globe

where hundreds of millions
of people live.

TOM: It's three-plus years
in the making

to actually get
to the continent itself.

It's a massive deal,

there's a lot of logistics
that are involved

in getting people, equipment
on the ice,

so we're hoping to get
the science objectives achieved.

NARRATOR: Before they can leave
their research site,

they need supplies to set up
a more permanent camp

that has to survive
the coming winter.

[phone rings]

MAN: Hey, Tom,
can you hear me alright?

TOM: Yeah, it's not too bad.

MAN: Um, has Rob started
the ski-way yet?

SHUL: Our Basler flight will,

we're trying
to tack that on today.

How does that work for you?

TOM: Okay.

SHUL: Fantastic.

TOM: Thanks, mate, see ya.

So, I guess we have a plane
coming today.

The plane will be here
at some stage this morning.

ROB TEASDALE: Need to get
that track busted out, ASAP.

We're sort of already
a bit behind the 8-ball.

NARRATOR: A DC-3 aircraft
is already leaving Scott Base.

Rob has to have a runway ready
before it arrives,

and all he has to work with

is a snow machine
and a pull-behind grader.

ROB: We've already had a couple
of weather days getting here,

you know, we were slowed down
because of the flat tires.

I would have liked to have been
started on that already,

and at least have it
halfway done.

[motor starts]

There we go.

Alright, let's go build
a ski-way.

The idea of grooming a ski-way

is to flatten the snow
as much as possible

for the pilot to be able
to land their plane,

which is not so easy, you know,

out in basically
the middle of nowhere.

It has to be flat,
and it has to be uniformly hard.

It is a lot of work, and it's
physically quite demanding,

but you want the pilots
to feel comfortable

with what they're landing on,

and you don't want
the plane crashing.

We need an extended period
of time to build a ski-way,

but the reality is
we're out of time,

so we're going to have to see
what happens.

You try and do the best
with what you've got.

As long as our pilots
think I did good work,

that's really all that counts.

This is it. Yeah.

He's just banking around
to line himself up.

TOM: If the pilots aren't happy
with the runway,

we'll have to completely start
this whole process over again.

CHRISTIAN OHNEISER: Oh, game on.

ROB: There you go.

Come on down, baby.

That tail wheel's digging in,

probably a bit more
than they're comfortable with.

I think it looks pretty good.

Well, it's down.

It didn't crash.

TOM: Hey, what's up, mate?

Good. How are ya?

MAN: Yeah, good, Tom.

CHRISTIAN: Awesome, alright.
Well, there we go. [laughs]

So we're establishing
a base camp for future seasons,

and this year it's essentially
a small crew

compared with what's
gonna be happening

in the following season

when there'll be larger crews,
more scientists.

TOM: Shuffle it out so we don't
have to go down the ramp.

NARRATOR: The semi-permanent
camp will house 25 people

and 24 tons of equipment,

and it has to survive
two more brutal winters.

All of it has to be set up

before the DC-3 returns
to pick up the bulk of the team.

*

MAN: Can you get a reading?

SPOTTER: Aloftcon,
flight deck.

500 yards.

WRIGHT: 500 yards, aye.
Boatswains...

BOATSWAIN: Do you want me
to come to the right?

WRIGHT: No, see how there's
a natural path through here?

You just follow that.

BOATSWAIN: Aye.

NARRATOR: The Polar Star is
leading the Ocean Giant to shore

through brash ice.

WALKER: There's a lot of ice
getting between us.

WALKER: You'll see big chunks
of ice flow up,

get kicked up along his hull,

and every time that does,
I cringe

and hope that it doesn't
slice his hull open.

WRIGHT: 400 yards, aye.

NARRATOR: The two massive ships
are traveling at three knots.

MAN: This is fast.

NARRATOR: And maintaining
at least 300 yards' distance

is absolutely critical.

WALKER:
That ship is 80,000 tons.

If something should happen
with propulsion,

it's going to crash into me.

So, it's very disconcerting
for me.

MAN: They seem closer now.

SPOTTER: Yeah.

[alarm sounds]

MORRISON: Wait, hey, hey!

MAN: It's number two, I think.

No, it's number three.

BURNS: Con, main control.
We are losing number one.

WOMAN: Main gas turbine.

WRIGHT: Get it back.

MORRISON:
We had rising temperatures

that indicated a fire.

Request to set general emergency

in accordance with
the main space fire doctrine.

FIREMAN: Black smoke at Aux One.

BURNS: Let's get
that boundary secure

so we don't lose this area.

WALKER: [bleep]

Ocean Giant,
break away, break away.

I've lost my propulsion.

So, we have
a collision imminent.

[alarm]

MORRISON:
We had rising temperatures

that indicated a fire.

FIREMAN: Smoke in Aux One.

BURNS:
Let's get that boundary secure

so we don't lose this area.

NARRATOR: The Polar Star
could have a fire

in one of her engines.

MAN: 1,200 degrees.

NARRATOR: And the Ocean Giant
is just 300 yards off her stern.

MAN: It's steadily rising.

NARRATOR: They're cutting power
to help fight the blaze.

BURNS: I just need you to turn
the switch and shut them down.

MORRISON: Pull it.

NARRATOR: And maneuvering
on just two propellers

instead of three.

MAN: Alright, tripped.

WALKER: Ocean Giant,
break away, break away.

I've lost my propulsion,
so we have a collision imminent.

SPOTTER: Aloftcon, fantail,
we see 100 yards, over.

WALKER: Main control.

It's imperative that we do
everything in our power

to keep forward momentum.

We cannot stop.

MORRISON: Roger.

FIREMAN: Everybody set? 23!

FIREMAN: Roger!

WALKER: The fire on board
could shut down propulsion,

and, if that happens,
it could be catastrophic

for everybody on both ships.

MORRISON:
The temperatures are stable.

SPOTTER: Oh, my God.

That was just
a couple hundred yards.

WALKER:
Ocean Giant to Polar Star,

we're clear of the mouth
of the channel.

So I'll have you proceed
through the turning basin

leading to the ice pier.

WALKER:
Thank you very much, sir.

Out.

BURNS: Electrical components
will start to melt

and decompose,

and that'll start a smoke
and a spark

and potentially turn
into a fire.

WALKER: Some of
the electronic equipment,

nobody has equipment
like this anymore.

Those circuits in there are
probably 45 to 50 years old.

You never know
when it's gonna fail.

C'mon, old girl, you can do it.

*

[honk]

*

BEN: Hey.

All of that whale chasing.

This is what we're after.

NARRATOR: At Scott Base,
the marine megafauna team

is in the Hillary Field Center,

a state-of-the-art research lab
on site.

REGINA:
Just putting some alcohol

into these vials
for the DNA samples.

The main analyses we do
from the biopsy samples

is DNA analysis,

and we also would like to do
stable isotopes,

which is a chemical marker for
where you are in the food chain.

So, here's the dart.

Alright, let's see
what we've got.

We've unscrewed the tether tail,

so this is just the dart body
with the biopsy tip.

There it is.

Oh, that's a very nice biopsy.

Look, nice, long core.

You can see
it's a very small cut.

This is the skin proper,
right here,

and there's a subdermal layer,

and then you can see
where that merges

into the subcutaneous fat.

Oh, wow, look at this.

Going to be something
interesting.

So that's
the actual skin surface.

You can see this texture
of the subcutaneous fat here,

and that's the adipose tissue
right there.

This is pretty fun, isn't it?

BEN: Yeah, that's cool.

REGINA: Alright, that goes
in the alcohol.

We started
the killer whale program

from scratch three years ago,

and that was the first
killer whale program

ever run out of Scott Base.

It's very, very exciting for us.

And the reason we're really
interested in killer whales

is they are potentially affected
by a legal fishery

that's operating
in the Ross Sea,

so we feel
a special responsibility

to make sure that that's not
damaging the environment,

so we're basically on a mission
from the government

to provide the data
for evidence-based management.

*

NARRATOR: In October of 2016,
the team's research

contributed to a huge
global conservation effort.

Part of the Southern Ocean

was declared
a marine protected area.

The biggest in history.

REGINA: I've probably spent
years of my life

writing very small things
on very small vials.

Important part of the job.

*

[squawk]

*

TOM: It is the final push.

I think everyone's,
uh, pretty tired.

It's been some big days,
and some, uh, some long work,

so I think everyone's
kind of pretty keen

to get back to Scott Base,
as well, have a shower.

So, I think everyone's
kind of got the motivation

to keep things moving, and try
and do this last final push

to, to get us
out of here on time.

NARRATOR: The Ross Ice Shelf
team's been scrambling

to set up a semi-permanent camp

before the DC-3 returns

to take most of the team
back to Scott Base.

LAURINE: I can't wait
for a shower.

CHRISTIAN:
You can't wait for a shower?

LAURINE: And a flushing toilet.

CHRISTIAN:
And a flushing toilet?

I could, yeah, you know,
I like those things.

I could last longer, though.

LAURINE: I could last longer,

but I think it's because we know
we're going home now.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah. That's true.

So when you know
that it's happening...

LAURINE: Then I'm ready for it.

TOM: Just pull
all the slack through.

NARRATOR: They still have to
finish the rack tent

that will serve as a field lab,

and a weather station that'll
record temperature,

wind speed and pressure
over the winter,

data that will help the project
in future years.

ETHAN DALE: [bleep]

The work we're doing
is relatively important

because the whole climate
of the Southern Hemisphere

could dramatically be changed
just from this one ice shelf

if it were to melt.

If you had a day like this
at home, people would complain.

MARCUS: Yeah, really cold.

Wind has just picked up.

ETHAN: As soon as it gets windy,

it gets in every crack,
every bit of bare skin...

[drill whirs]

...and does its best
to freeze it off.

The weather station has lots
of small nuts and bolts,

and your fingers freeze up
and get cold

and they feel like you've got
a glove on even when you don't.

It becomes almost impossible

to do some of the things
you've got to do.

MARCUS: Handling metal
with bare hands is...

ROB: Put it in your mouth,
and then it warms up.

MARCUS: Is that a trick?

[laughs]

ETHAN: Well, I don't really want
to lose the nuts and washers

in the snow, so I've just been
putting them in my mouth.

They're a bit cold, so I've been
ripping bits of skin

off my tongue with them.

Woop.

[mumbling]
Oh, that one's really cold.

*

Cool. Shall we put it up?

MARCUS: Yeah.

Ah, it's heavy now.

ETHAN: Yes, it's heavy.

Hopefully this weather station
will become a part

of helping us understand
what's going on here,

once we get
a few storms through.

Hopefully it'll give us
some good data.

CHRISTIAN: There it is!

Woo hoo!

LAURINE: Woo!

CHRISTIAN: It's a huge relief,
to be done setting up.

Now we have our base camp
for future seasons.

We figured out
what we needed to,

everything worked
the way it should've.

We showed that, you know,
the Ross Ice Shelf program

works really, really well.

We have scientists
from all different disciplines

all coming together.

Whatever we're going
to discover,

it's going to be new, and it's
going to be interesting.

*

TOM: We need muscles!

Give it a shove.

So we're gonna stage some stuff
here for the following seasons.

So, we've left fifty-odd drums
of fuel over there.

Next year, we'll be coming
straight back out to this site,

and we'll have kind of the basis
of the camp already set up.

Pees, poos, some of our, uh,
food waste, uh, recycling,

you know, general waste,

we'll get rid of
a fair bit of that.

Pees.

MAN: Lovely.

TOM: Ah.

[laughs]

Favorite part
of your job, I bet.

Scott Base,
they can only process

one of those pee barrels,
uh, every day,

so, we'll go home with 30 full.

So, we wanted to get as many as
we can back to Scott Base now,

to start that process.

It's gonna take a month to
get rid of our pees from here.

CHRISTIAN: We don't need snacks.
How long's the flight? An hour?

LAURINE: Yeah. Hour.

TOM: The Basler will take away
five of our people,

leaving us with
our little small crew

to begin the return journey.

*

LAURINE: What is this
luxury accommodation?

CHRISTIAN: I know.

All this space on our feet.

LAURINE: Hello. There's Raki.

RAKI: Mama, I'm coming home.

*

*

TOM: We've lightened up our
traverse team for the way home,

and we've also got rid of the
last of the, kind of, big gear,

so we've kind of tried
to minimize our weight

for the drive home.

Now, we're just having our
last little bit of a pack-up,

and, um, and then we should be
on the road.

*

[chirping]

*

ARI: I'm not getting anything.

NARRATOR: Ari has spent hours
tracking a suction tag

attached to a whale,
but it's moving,

and the Southern Ocean covers
almost 8 million square miles.

ARI: Been going around for
like three hours, and nothing.

If we don't get that tag back,

then we don't have context
for the biopsy sample,

we don't have context
for the drone work,

and we lose a lot
of information.

[static]

Yep, just heard it.

Okay. Gotcha.

It's basically same direction
we had last night.

[chirping]

Luckily, the whale did not swim
out of the bay.

The signal's too consistent,

and we don't see any whales
in the area,

so it's got to be
off the animal.

Whales generally shed their skin
pretty regularly,

and if a tag falls off,
then it's harder to find.

With whales, they are the
biggest animals on the planet,

but the tag is basically,
you know,

half the size of a pigeon.

Bottom of the ninth.

You know, uh, basically
our last,

our last afternoon here.

You certainly feel

like you're leaving
something important behind.

If you lose a tag, it's gone,

and you don't have a chance
to get it back.

*

[bleep]

*

ARI: Make a 90-degree turn,
Lars.

LARS: Yup.

ARI: More luck than skill,
for sure, at this point.

'Cause you get
so much interference,

going back that way.

I'm not confident
of where it is.

NARRATOR:
Ari has just a few hours

before his research vessel
heads home for the winter,

and he still hasn't found
a video tag

full of valuable data
for his research.

ARI: This is our last
opportunity to find the tag.

[chirping]

It's beeping consistently.

The strength of the signal
kind of changes,

depending if you're focused
on where the tag is.

It's very loud, this direction.

Less loud this direction.

*

I see it. Alright, I see it.

LARS: Nice.

ARI: It's about 30 meters
off our port bow.

LARS: Yep. Got it.

ARI: You got it?
You got a visual on it?

Sweet.

That is a very welcome sight.

LARS: Yes!

ARI: There we go.
That's it, buddy.

LARS: Nice work.

ARI: When we get the tag back

it's certainly like,
like a little gift.

But we don't get anything

until we make sure that
all the data is on there.

*

If you get too excited
too quickly,

you're kind of
setting yourself up.

There's a lot of things
that you can't control.

Hopefully, this is gonna work.

Once we get the tag
back on board,

we've got to clean it off,
get rid of all that saltwater.

We've got to very carefully
open up the data ports,

because there's some pretty
finicky electronics

inside this computer that's been
on a whale, underwater,

for about 48 hours
at this point.

We plug the computer
into the tag,

and essentially talks to it.

We've got a little program
where it opens up,

and then we download
all of that information quickly.

It'll show us
if it's got tag data.

You think you've done
everything right,

and until you absolutely
confirm it with data,

you never know
what's gonna be in there.

Oh, that's it.

LARS: Alright, Ari.

Tag?

MAN: Yeah.
MAN: Yeah.

LARS: This is what we're
hoping for, exactly.

MAN: Yeah.

LARS: So on this one
you got a biopsy sample.

ARI: Yep.

LARS: Got 48 hours of tag.

ARI: Yeah.

LARS: Plus the UAV measurements.

ARI: We'll know exactly
what it's doing.

We turn it
into time-depth profile.

That allows us to see all of
the dives that the animal made,

and then we can start
to link up the video,

based on the time,
with different dives,

and then we can start looking
at those videos

and corroborating what we see
on the video

with what we see
on the dive sensors.

The Antarctic Peninsula's
changing, literally,

right before our eyes.

The number of sea-ice days
is decreasing,

the temperatures are going up,
and because of that,

the critters
that live down there

are stressed in different ways,

and understanding what it is
about those animals

that allows them to either
thrive or not thrive

in this changing climate
is really important to us,

so that we can understand how,
in the future,

this system is gonna look.

I think this season
was a huge success for us.

We were able to increase our
number of tags that we deployed

on humpback whales
and minke whales.

We collected
a huge number of samples,

and we now have
a lot more information

that we can share with people.

[squeaking]

[grunt]

WALKER: Alright, we're making
our approach here.

WRIGHT: Ocean Giant, Polar Star.

We have the turning basin
off of our bow.

We will alter our course
to port.

We ask that you can proceed
towards the approach channel.

CAPTAIN ON RADIO: Copy that!

NARRATOR: After a full week
of breaking ice

and the round-the-clock stress
of holding the ship together,

the Polar Star
has the Ocean Giant

just a few hundred yards
from shore.

WALKER: So, this is pretty much
the end of the escort.

We go right; they go left.

We bid them farewell.

This is like Sea Biscuit
going in for the finish line.

A little slower pace, of course.

Now hear this, now hear this.

This is the captain.

The Ocean Giant is
close enough to the pier

for me to say congratulations,
everybody.

I know it's a lot of hard work;

you guys put in
a lot of great effort.

So I appreciate that.

That is all.

I cannot give enough compliments
to the crew

for keeping the old girl going.

We still have to escort
the supply ship out,

then mission is accomplished.

What a great send-off
for my career.

NARRATOR:
A few miles from the pier...

MAC: Hi, guys,
just to let you know,

the ship will be berthing
at the ice pier.

Road access will be, uh, limited
during the ship offload,

with trucks hauling containers
out of Scott Base here

and around the pier area.

NARRATOR: Scott Base
is a hive of activity.

KEITH: So, our sea container
has arrived.

NARRATOR: In a last push

to bring in supplies
for the winter.

KEITH: Got a lot of stuff, here.

Think it's this whole pallet.

Goes straight in that freezer.

NARRATOR:
And get almost everyone

safely off the continent
before it comes.

SHUL: It's the end
of the summer season,

so we're wrapping up now,
for the winter.

ETHAN: Pretty cool view
from up here, eh?

MARCUS: Wait till you get
up there.

NARRATOR: The members
of the Ross Ice Shelf team

who flew back on the DC-3

are waiting for their comrades'
safe return

from the same vantage point

that's been witness to tragedy
in the past.

ETHAN: So, this is
Observation Hill,

or Ob Hill for short.

You can see 30 or 40 miles
out over the ice shelf

on a clear day.

The summer of 1912, when Scott
did his push for the pole

and didn't return,

every clear day they would've
been walking up this hill

and looking out, hoping to see
him on the horizon,

until, you know, eventually
the sun went down

and they sort of had to accept
that he wasn't coming back.

So, yeah, we came up here today.

We thought it was fitting,
a bit of a pilgrimage,

to see the traverse team return.

Oh, I think that's them.

Look at that, Drew.

DREW: Oh [bleep], yeah.

*

ROB: A thousand kilometers, yay!
TOM: Yay!

ROB: H1, H2, we've just cracked
the thousand-kilometer mark.

MAN ON RADIO: Yahoo!

ROB: When we, uh, cross over
that fuel line,

we'll just pull off to one side,

we'll get our sleds unhooked,
and head up to base.

*

CHRISTIAN: Woo hoo!

[laughs]

Reunited with our old comrades.

I felt a bit bad leaving them
behind, but at the same time...

LAURINE:
It was really good to fly.

CHRISTIAN: It was brilliant.

It was an excellent flight.

It was really wonderful.

It was a very successful season.

Next season, now we hope
that our research will find out

something that
no one else knows.

The history of that part
of the ice shelf,

for the last 10,000 years.

*

Season one of the Ross Ice Shelf
program is over and done with,

and we're going home.

This is gonna be a great return,
because, you know,

you do miss your friends,
or you do miss your family.

TOM: Nice work, Rob.

Home.

ROB: Right. Sweet home.

TOM: Hand brake on.

ROB: Hello.

MAN: Rob, hello.

[indistinct greetings]

MAN: Welcome back.

Welcome back.

Hi!

[laughter]

*

NARRATOR: As winter approaches,

scientists, like
the Ross Ice Shelf team,

and even Scott Base leadership,

are on the last flights
off the continent.

*

*

The days are getting shorter,

and the nights
are getting longer.

For the few souls left
on the continent,

the only goal
is to survive the dark

and the loneliness

for five long months.

*

*

WALKER: It's the only
opportunity I have left in me

to enjoy this trip home.

So, this'll be my ooh-rah.

NARRATOR: Far from shore,
the Polar Star is headed home,

leaving the last great mystery
on Earth behind them,

and after 34 years
of faithful service,

this is Captain Walker's last
look at the frozen continent.

WALKER: Last ride.

I'm kind of sad, but...

it's been a great career.

*

There's some times
when I see things,

and it almost looks
like special effects or CGI,

but this is real.

It's pretty amazing and magical.

It almost looks
like the sky's alive.

I might as well be
on a different planet.

It was kind of sad thinking

that it'll be the last time
I see the continent.

I can only imagine, you know,
the astronaut on his shuttle

zooming away from the moon and
looking back at the moon saying,

'What an amazing,
distinct pleasure

to have the opportunity
to walk on the moon.'

I feel the same way
about Antarctica.

I'll never see it again.

It's as far away to me
as the moon is,

and I'm gonna miss

the last great adventurous,
unexplored place on Earth.

*