A thrilling journey to the world's most perilous environment, Antarctic Edge: 70deg South joins a team of world-class scientists as they explore the fastest warming place on earth: the West Antarctic Peninsula.
The filmmakers had unprecedented access to critically important climate research in the fastest winter-warming place on earth: the West Antarctic Peninsula. In fact, this is the first time in history that the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project at Palmer Station has ever been documented on film--a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for viewers to follow the historic mission of prominent climate change scientists who push the limits of their research and come to terms with the sacrifices necessary to study and ultimately prepare for global climate change.
For the last twenty years, oceanographer Oscar Schofield and his team have witnessed rapid change in the West Antarctic Peninsula. Winter sea ice has declined by three months and temperatures have increased by 11 degrees Fahrenheit, six times greater than the global average. In 2014, experts declared Antarctic ice sheet melt unstoppable, placing the pressure on Schofield and his team. Their mission: to study the vulnerable wildlife populations along the West Antarctic Peninsula, particularly the Adelie Penguin whose populations have declined by 90%. For Schofield and his crew, these declining birds are the greatest indicator of climate change and are a harbinger of what is to come. While navigating through 60-foot waves and dangerous icebergs on a world-class icebreaker, these scientists must travel to 70deg South--a rugged and inhospitable island called Charcot--with an arsenal of cutting-edge technology that will revolutionize how climate change is studied. There, they hope to study a fragile Adelie population living in a true polar climate.
Filmed in one of the most perilous environments on the planet, Antarctic Edge brings to us the stunning landscapes and seascapes of Earth's southern polar region, revealing the harsh conditions and huge challenges that scientists endure for months at a time.
