Program 1 Oceans, Ice & Life
Thursday, January 23, 1997, 13:00-14:00 Eastern
The chilly waters of Antarctica are --
surprisingly -- at times more productive than those of the
tropics: this program shows us how and why. Sail to Palmer
Station aboard the R.V. Polar Duke, across the Drake
Passage, the roughest waters on Earth. During this first
live telecast, from on board ship, meet the researchers who
are studying the interaction of the marine food chain, and
see how life on and in the ocean waxes and wanes along with
the seasonal ice sheets. See how researchers sample the
smallest lifeforms in the ocean, and their connection up the
food chain to seals, penguins and whales. This program
demonstrates the adaptation of life to such extreme
conditions, and shows how scientists must also adapt their
lives and research techniques to the environment.
Program 2 The Secrets of Survival
Thursday, January 30, 1997, 13:00-14:00 Eastern
For the fifty researchers and their
support teams who live at Palmer during the Antarctic
summer, commuting to work involves a daily trip from the
relative safety and comfort of the main research
station aboard small Zodiac inflatables out to their
desolate study sites, over waters that would kill in minutes
in the event of an accident. Travel with them, live, to
Torgersen Island, to study Adelie penguins and their newborn
chicks; to Humble and Dream Island to observe the skuas who
prey on them, and find out the fascinating connections
between each season's ice and weather, and which young
creatures will live and die. This program looks at the secrets
of survival for both the wildlife and the human
researchers who journey to the ends of the Earth to study
them.
Program 3 Seeing the Future?
Thursday, February 6, 1997, 13:00-14:00 Eastern
Antarctica was the place which first showed
humans the ozone hole, and Palmer Station is one of the key
sites which helps us understand how global climate change
may affect the ecosystem of which we are all part. Palmer is
the only place on the Continent where microscopic plants can
grow on land, and the site of an ambitious Long-Term
Ecological Research project seeking to understand the
ongoing interaction of ocean, ice, atmosphere and life.
This program presents the latest on ozone and the effects of
increased ultraviolet radiation, and shows how research in
Antarctica -- and Palmer in particular -- helps us
understand our entire planetary environment.
