Frozen Planet - E1 to the end of the earth S2

1. Frozen Planet - S01 - E01 - To The Ends Of The Earth - Part 02.mp3

.

The poles are permanently capped with ice. Nowhere is colder, windier or more hostile to life.

 I'm standing at the North Pole, the very top of the Earth. Up here, it's easy to see why the polar regions are so cold.

The sun never rises high enough in the sky to warm my back and those rays that do strike the surface are mostly reflected back from this great whiteness.

But the fundamental problem is that there's no sun here at all for half the year. The polar winter is unrivalled in its harshness.

A night that lasts for months. Only the toughest stay, as temperatures plunge to minus 70 degrees centigrade.

And yet, the greatest challenge to life here is not the cold, but the extreme swings between the seasons

When the sun finally returns, an extraordinary transformation begins. This frozen world begins to melt away.

The Polar spring brings a brief opportunity for life. By summer, the sun no longer sets and works its magic for 24 hours a day.

Now it's a race to breed before the sun departs. 

By autumn, all but the hardiest abandon the poles and the ice extends its grip. 

Land and sea close down for the long, polar winter, until, once again, the sun returns.