Antarctica, a continent of
mystery and natural wonders? Covered with ice four
kilometers deep. Temperatures can drop to
minus 93 degrees Celcius. 75 percent of our planet’s fresh
water is locked up in its ice sheet? ...and yet it’s classified as
the largest desert on Earth. This could be the only
place in the world where diverse countries have rallied
together in the name of peace and science — to protect
the environment. The part about the ice and
temperatures... sure. But the part about peace and the
environment - it’s hard to believe. Not just because I’m
concerned about nature. But also because I lived
in Syria in 2009. So, I don’t have much
faith left in peace... ...or in the
international community. But I’d love to
be proven wrong. We’ve come to
Punta Arenas, where the polar research vessel
Hespérides is picking up a group of Spanish scientists
to take them to Antarctica. I’m already
nervous. You’ll get used to it.
It’s no big deal. It's
amazing. I’ve even got
a window. Bottom bunk? Last
night was rough. We went to bed early, but I had
a hard time falling asleep. I must have slept just four hours because
I was so nervous about the trip. I embarked on this journey to
explore the myths of Antarctica. After one day at sea, we
reach the end of the world. At the southernmost
tip of Argentina, Tierra del Fuego is still
a thousand kilometers from the continent of Antarctica.
This is the Drake Passage. Eddies and wind
churn freely here, whipping up violent seas in one of
the Earth’s roughest waterways. The worst storm to
date hit us this year. It was our second trip
back from Antarctica, we were about 18 hours
from South America when a severe weather system
hit us from the starboard. We faced 7-meter-high waves
and winds of up to 50 knots. Every time the crew sails
into the Drake Passage, they have their mobile
phones camera-ready. Here comes a
monster wave! Could be
taller! These are the outlines of Cape Horn,
a notorious maritime graveyard that harbors the sunken
wrecks of hundreds of ships. Even today the Drake
Passage commands respect: everyone battens
down the hatches. It wasn’t so dramatic
on our trip, though. Luckily, technology has improved a
lot, and today, before setting sail, we can check the weather
forecast to find the best window for crossing the
Drake Passage. The adventure may not be as wild as it once was. But it’s still beautiful. Antarctica has been subject to
territorial disputes for centuries. The passage was first sailed by
Spaniard Francisco de Hoces in 1525. Fifty years later, it was discovered by
the English explorer Sir Francis Drake - and bears his
name to this day. In the early
20th century, seven countries laid territorial
claims to parts of Antarctica. The overlapping claims
of the United Kingdom, Argentina and Chile caused tensions
that erupted into armed conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1952.
As the Cold War set in, the last thing the world needed was
a new geopolitical flashpoint. It was that realization that gave
rise to the Antarctic Treaty. Many people including scientists
were looking for ways to cooperate and there was the International
Geophysical Year in 1957-1958 and that worked out so well
that there was this idea that there could be
cooperation in Antarctica. They felt that
there was a way, and it’s shown in the
article 4 of the Treaty, to set aside the claims and to say that
there would be a demilitarization. But it’s also, as?you may know, one
of the first arms control treaties, so it was focused on keeping the
peace in that respect as well. But none of that was the
result of good will alone: the extreme climate made it difficult
to exploit the region economically, and the US and Soviet Union
staked their territorial claims quite late
in the game. Four days after leaving Punta Arenas,
the Hespérides reaches Antarctica. Everyone is excited. We got
up at five in the morning to catch our first glimpse
of the coastline. What we hadn’t
expected was the fog. We are two and a half miles away,
and you can’t see anything. A few hours later, the fog lifts,
and at last we can see Antarctica. The Hespérides’ first stop
is King George Island. The Spanish team is delivering supplies
to the Uruguayan station Artigas. Antarctic cooperation
is running smoothly. The Antarctic Treaty
is very effective. Under its terms, this location
is devoted solely to science. It has played a key role
in getting all countries to set aside their other
interests, at least publicly, and it’s been that way
for a very long time. Unfortunately, the same is not
true in other parts of the world, where usually economic interests take
precedence over scientific cooperation. Could this model be
exported beyond Antarctica? That’s a good question. It’s something
many on the planet would support. Because King George Island offers
the easiest access to Antarctica, it has the greatest concentration of
stations on the entire continent. There are facilities here belonging
to Uruguay, Russia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, China, Poland, Peru,
Ecuador, the Czech Republic, South Korea
and Bulgaria. The Antarctic Treaty regulates
how many new stations can open so that it doesn’t
get too crowded. It’s always better to coexist
peacefully with your neighbors and get along. The first thing we
did was to establish good relations with all our neighbors. Cooperation
is vital in Antarctica. When there are tensions
between the US and Russia, does it affect the
cooperation in Antarctica? I wouldn't say there
is no effect. But, by and large the
cooperation has continued. It doesn't mean that those
tensions aren't in some respects in the background somewhere, But at
least in the terms of the Antarctic programs and the Arctic programs and
the work of the scientists together by and large
that continues. In 2004, Russia imported
wood from Siberian pines, its national tree, to construct a small
Orthodox church here in Antarctica. Critics say it’s a sly way to
stake a territorial claim. The Chilean station has
its own church too. It also has a school for
the children of soldiers stationed on the
base year-round. It is the closest thing you’ll find
to a settlement in Antarctica. In the 1970s, Argentina’s
military dictatorship sent pregnant women to
give birth in Antarctica, to underscore its
territorial claims. Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet copied the tactic. But it was widely
viewed as provocative, and after the birth of eight
Argentinians and three Chileans, both countries
ended the policy. Today, more subtle strategies are
used to cement territorial claims, as seen on Chilean
television. The Easter Island will be overcast
with partially cloudy skies, whereas Chilean Antarctica... whereas
Chilean Antarctica will be mostly sunny. What do Chileans think about their
country’s claims to Antarctica? To be honest, there isn’t much
public debate on the topic. When I was little, people
did talk about it a bit. But later on, the political
discourse subsided. Today people primarily associate
it with environmental protection. That’s the trend I’ve observed,
especially among young people. Chileans my age hardly discuss the issue.
For us it’s simple: we see Antarctica as a place where
many nations come together. There’s no reason why we should be
more entitled to it than anyone else. Do you think we can
save Antarctica if we’ve failed to do the
same in other places? I think it’s exactly because we’ve
made so many mistakes in other places that we have a shot
at saving Antarctica. Spain has two stations
in Antarctica. Its National Research Center
operates the Juan Carlos I Station on Livingston Island. It was
built in the late 1980s and remodeled in 2008
into a modern facility that looks a bit like
a space station. This station is
used in the summer. It doesn’t need to withstand
the harsh conditions you’d expect to encounter
in Antarctica. Today, there is
hardly any wind, but two days ago we had gusts of nearly
40 knots, or 80 kilometers an hour, which drives the wind chill factor down
to minus 15 or 20 degrees Celcius. Jerónimo López and his team
study the continent’s geology, which they say is of essential
importance to the rest of the planet. Antarctica affects the whole
world’s climate, doesn’t it? It is the planet’s
cold factory. It’s really cold in the Arctic,
too, but not to the same extent. There’s also a lot more ice in
Antarctica than in the Arctic. Antarctic deep seawater reaches
as far as the Iberian Peninsula and continues to circulate
around the northern hemisphere. These waters sometimes flow
all the way up to the Arctic, where they cool
back down again. The motor driving this
circulation is Antarctica. One of the most important projects
at the Juan Carlos I Station is its study of the Hurd
and Johnson glaciers. In recent
years we’ve evaluated the state of the mass
balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. We found that the gains
of ice have been greater than the losses of its
thinning glaciers. But next year’s data will probably indicate
the exact opposite. So, is it getting
colder in Antarctica? Yes, it is
getting colder, but our measurements are
limited to the last 15 years. Scientific studies need to examine
a period of at least 30 years. If we look
closer, we can see there was a gradual
temperature increase for 15 years, and a temperature drop in
the subsequent 15 years. But globally the trend
is towards warming. On our trip, we didn’t see much
snow, but the year before, there was so much snow that
the 2-meter-high stakes used to monitor the
glacier disappeared. To find them, the Spanish
team had to dig, and dig and dig. Located next to Livingston
Island is Half Moon Island. We made a discovery in this
miniature-sized Antarctica: the weather here
changes very suddenly. Within minutes, the snowfall
turns into a blizzard — clocking winds of 80
kilometers an hour. The Hespérides’ next stop
is Deception Island, home to the station
Gabriel de Castilla. This island is the caldera of an active volcano.
It last erupted in 1970. Huge glaciers are concealed
beneath the ash. The Gabriel de Castilla Station
is run by the Spanish Army. Wait, didn’t we say the Antarctic
Treaty bans all military activity? Due to the island’s difficult terrain,
and the danger posed by the volcano, it was decided that the army was best
equipped to operate the station. Our mission is to make the
visiting scientists feel at home. They come for a very specific
time period to work on research, take samples, do experiments
and collect data. Our job is to ensure all
the logistics are in place so they can concentrate
on their work. So, there are no
weapons here? None that I
know of? Deception Island is home to a large
colony of chinstrap penguin. Andrés Barbosa has been studying
these animals for twenty years. There are species like
the Adélie penguin whose populations have decreased
dramatically on the Antarctic Peninsula, by about 60%. The chinstrap penguin
is also threatened by extinction. But other species like
the gentoo penguin have profited from
present-day conditions. Its populations have increased
by about 15 to 20%. That is basically what’s been happening
over the course of 4 billion years on our planet — it’s
called evolution. There are species that thrive
under positive conditions, then they vanish and are
replaced by others. Andrés installed a camera to monitor
the penguins all year long. The images track the birds
and their offspring as they gradually flee the
onset of colder temperatures. We see seagulls
fly by? The drifting icebergs. The arrival of
storms that bury the camera in snow and then blow
it free again. The long, lonesome winter.
The formation of sea ice. Sunsets that no one else sees.
In October, the penguins return. Soon they begin to lay their eggs. And
a few weeks later the chicks are born. One of the Spanish
Navy’s tasks is to map the undersea
topography around these islands. Drive it deeper.
Zero eight-six. Because the Antarctic
coast is so immense, less than 1% of the area underwater
has been properly mapped. If for example you have to change your
ship’s route because of an iceberg, it can be dangerous to leave the zones
for which there are accurate data. So we need to produce more
maps to prevent shipwrecks, oil spills or other accidents.
Not just to protect human lives, but also to prevent damage
to the environment here. We really have lots of work
ahead, it will take years. Every country with the ability
to cooperate should pitch in. The British captain William Smith
made the first recorded landing in Antarctica in
1819 — an accident, after he was blown off
course by powerful winds. Spain claims the honor
for Gabriel de Castilla, who it says discovered the continent in
1603, though that’s never been proven. It’s probable that seal hunters
set foot on these islands before William Smith, but they
kept quiet about their discovery so as not to have to share
its treasure trove of fur. These are photos of organisms
from the Weddell Sea, and nobody knows what family,
genus or species they belong to. They have yet to
be classified. Which is true for lots of completely
different types of animals. Despite its
remote location, far removed from almost
all human life on Earth, the Southern Ocean is a vital and
precious region of the planet. A team of modern-day explorers has
been dispatched to the region by the University
of Barcelona. People thought that,
because it’s so cold, with few resources
in terms of food, there would be little fauna on the sea bed.
But that’s not true. Conditions are harsh,
but organisms adapt. The ecosystems in Antarctica
are the oldest on the planet, so species have had a
long time to adapt. And there are species that are in
fact unique to the ecosystem here. Do you feel a bit
like explorers? Well, yeah,
I do! Explorers of Antarctica. Today...
and in times past. In 1911, Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen of Norway and Britain’s Robert Falcon-Scott raced
to be the first to reach the South Pole. Amundsen triumphed, while Scott’s
team perished trying to return. Though his expedition ended in tragedy,
Scott was celebrated as a hero. On his way back Scott had
picked up a fossil from a tree also found in South
America and India. The find supported the theory that
the continents were once joined and had drifted apart. So the race to the South Pole contributed to a better understanding
of our planet’s evolutionary history. The remnants of an old whaling station
can still be found on Deception Island. Long ago, the location was
referred to as “Red Bay,” because of the blood-stained
water, or “Stinking Bay," due to the stench of rotting
meat and processing oil. It was shut
down in 1931. An international ban on commercial
whaling came into force in 1986. Japan was allocated a quota for
scientific research purposes. It was long suspected of violating
the terms of this quota by pursuing commercial
whaling in Antarctica. We support
sustainable use. We would like to see whales
forever in the future. Because that’s the only way
sustainable utilization is possible. It is free for any nation
to have particular ways of dealing animals in their
nations, and in their culture. In 2014, the International
Court of Justice in The Hague ruled against Japan’s
whaling program. The Court concludes that the
special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking, and treating
of whales, in connection with JARPA II, are not for purposes of scientific
research pursuant article 8, paragraph 1 of
the Convention. Japan complied with
the court decision. But only for
one year, after which its ships were back out
whaling in the Southern Ocean again. Whaling is not the only problem
we should be concerned about. The Patagonian toothfish
is an Antarctic treasure. It’s subject to catch limits,
but amid high demand, poaching is a
lucrative business. Poachers ignore quotas and
rules on fishing techniques. These mandate the use of longlining,
which allows for very selective fishing. But poachers use
giant driftnets that indiscriminately kill
tons of other fish as well. In 2014 and 2016,
Spanish police, Interpol and the New Zealand navy took
joint action against Vidal Armadores, a Spanish company accused
of illegal fishing. It was a milestone
internationally, because Spain issued a public
acknowledgment, saying: We admit this is a Spanish
pirate fishing company, and we know there
are many others. But this story didn’t
have a happy ending. Vidal Armadores appealed a
lower court’s conviction. The Supreme Court
decided in its favor, ruling that the alleged poaching had
taken place in international waters, and Spanish courts had no
jurisdiction to try the case. From here, the
Hespérides heads south. It sails into the
Gerlache Strait — one of the most spectacular
locations on the entire continent. This is the Argentinian
station Primavera. The Primavera Station
is run by the Army. Unlike other stations, it has
a system of raised walkways, so we avoid trampling on fragile
plants, including moss and algae, so as to cause the
least possible damage. Why is it that international
cooperation works here, but not at
the UN? I’m not a foreign policy
expert so I can’t say, but the Antarctic Treaty
works very well here. If you ask me why, I can’t really say.
It just does. I wish the rest of the
world were this way, but probably there is more
egoism in other places... Is there cooperation between Argentina,
Chile and the United Kingdom, too? Yes, yes. In fact, I arrived
through the Frei Station. There’s no problem in that respect.
Here in Antarctica, it works perfectly. I’d be happy to show you a
bit more of the station. The commander mentioned the
Frei Station, which is Chilean, but nothing specific
about the UK. It may just have been coincidence, or
maybe he was avoiding a sensitive topic. In 1982, Argentina and Britain went
to war over the Falkland Islands. For many, it left wounds
that’ve never healed. For days, we watched otherworldly
scenes unfold before our eyes. During those weeks, we discovered
Antarctica’s infinite beauty. And one of its
biggest threats. We saw record visitor numbers in
2008-2009, with some 46,000 tourists. The financial crisis hit
the tourism industry and numbers dropped
to below 25,000. But recently they were
back up to 46,000 again. What if the numbers
keep rising? We don’t know what will happen.
I think numbers will increase, but these trips
aren’t cheap, they cost between 5 and 10
thousand Euros per trip. Not a lot of people can
afford such luxury. For every researcher in Antarctica,
there are now ten tourists. It’s a business that rakes in
some 400 million euros per year. A few years ago, an NGO
opened a museum here, inside a British station
dating from the 1950’s. There are rules of conduct for
visitors, but more needs to be done. It would help if tourists were required
to make a monetary contribution to regional
conservation. Currently, only ten of the five to ten
thousand euros they pay for their trip go toward erasing their footprint. But
none goes to conservation management. Often it’s the tourists
themselves who file complaints against the tour operators
who flout regulations. Do you think tourism may have a
negative impact in Antarctica? Personally we were able to have
a lot of time to walk and trot and spend a lot of time
walking around the island. And so far we have found some trash,
which is very surprising in a way, because in our mind, or
at least in my mind, I thought Antarctica would be a
very pristine and remote location, would be
untouched. But then looking at a milk carton
from China and I’m Chinese, I can read that, and then looking
at different water bottles and waste on beaches and
it is shocking in a way. It’s not just
tourism — any human presence in
Antarctica can pose a threat. We’re looking for aliens. Aliens in the sense of species that
didn’t exist in the region before. They arrive, check out
the local conditions, and if they meet their ecological
requirements, they settle and propagate. We want to identify
the invasive species that have displaced
local populations. If the temperature
rises even slightly, species that would previously have
been unable to survive or propagate can invade and occupy the habitats
of native species and supplant them. How do these invasive
species reach Antarctica? They arrive through different natural
channels, either on the wind, by sea, on tree trunks or other
floating objects, or on animals. But natural routes aren’t the
main source of invasion, it’s us humans who
inadvertently carry them here on vehicle wheels or our shoes. Many
species die in the harsh conditions, but other more hardy
ones become invasive. That is why we were required
by the Spanish Polar Committee to carefully vacuum each of the items
we took with us to Antarctica. Can you solve this
problem alone? No. But the great thing about
Antarctica is the cooperation between the many countries active here.
A good example is our success in eradicating an invasive
species two years ago. It was a coordinated
effort of the Spanish, British and Argentine Polar Committees
— and that despite the fact that Britain and Argentina have a
history of conflict in the region. We eradicated the
invasive species. We ecologists are the Earth’s doctors,
and we have diagnosed a disease. Now the onus is on society to
follow the doctors’ orders. After a week on the
Gerlache Strait, the Hespérides makes its way
back to the Spanish station. From there, it
will return home. But I couldn’t
leave Antarctica without investigating the world’s
single biggest threat to peace and the
environment. Without a doubt, there are
mineral resources in Antarctica. And there
is oil. And there are not just hydrocarbons in
the form of natural gas and petroleum, but also minerals, like
nickel, gold and silver. Some recent publications
even report findings of a type rock that
may harbor diamonds. It has become increasingly easier
and cheaper to reach Antarctica. There could be minerals
here with a value so great it might justify
their exploitation, even in such a remote location
and hostile environment. I witnessed the Prestige
oil spill firsthand. We conducted research to determine the
spill’s impact along the entire coast of northern Spain, and the
findings were devastating. Oil isn’t just hard to remove:
it’s impossible to remove. We can take off the upper layer,
but the rest stays stuck. An oil spill in Antarctica on the scale
of the Prestige would be a total, utter
catastrophe. The oil’s impact on the ice sheet
would be far more dramatic than any of the affects it
can have in other regions. Why? First of all because it would
be impossible to reach all of the affected areas, and
secondly, when it freezes, the oil gets trapped
inside the ice. So it would be much harder for
marine currents to disperse the oil into other
areas. In 1989, signatories of the Antarctic
Treaty were poised to open the door to limited oil and
mineral prospecting. That had new countries
lining up to join the club. But then once again,
a miracle happened. Today saw the signing
of the Madrid Protocol. The agreement aims to protect
the environment of Antarctica, the only remaining pristine
territory on our planet. It’s set to stay in force
for the next 50 years. As so often, the world’s most
powerful countries were divided. A row erupted between the more
environmentally conscious, mostly European, nations and the United
States, Soviet Union, China and Britain. Ultimately all sides
agreed to a 50- year moratorium on the
exploitation of mineral resources. The ban can only be lifted with the
unanimous agreement of all signatories - which is virtually
impossible. The protocol was a compromise
between the interests of two sides. It banned the exploitation of resources
that could cause severe pollution and irreparable damage to Antarctica, but
it failed to impose a permanent ban. The Madrid Protocol will be subject
to review in 2048. What happens then? Achieving consensus on anything
is a very hard thing to do. So as long as you haven’t convinced
all of the countries that a change from current policy is needed then
the current ban on mining continues. As a legal
matter. That may be, but some are
still tempted. In 2007, Britain asserted new claims to a vast
area of the seabed off Antarctica. There’s a reason why countries
go to great lengths, shipping resources and people,
to open stations in Antarctica: they want to ensure they’ll be there
when the continent is divvied up. Even if no one will
say so publicly. As a researcher, do you feel you’re
being exploited for that end? No not at all, I have always
believed it’s better to join forces with your enemy to take advantage
of all their resources. If, through our research, we can obtain
data that will help protect Antarctica, I believe that’s
our best option And so, the Spanish researchers
and military personnel take leave of the
southernmost continent. Shortly before we
reach the mainland, we receive footage of the penguin
colony on Deception Island. The chicks were
born 20 days ago. The embryo in
this egg is dead. Its parents can’t lay
another until next year. It’s hard for them
to let it go. Humankind also tries desperately
to protect the things it loves. And science has shown that the human
heart is bigger than that of a penguin. Or would you
beg to differ? No, that’s one thing
we can agree on.
