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The Return to Mawson's Antarctica - Part Three

Discovery finds out how the seals and penguins are faring on and under the icebergs and in the freezing waters of the Antarctic.

Alok Jha and Andrew Luck-Baker continue to follow the scientists on the ongoing Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013. They go out on fieldwork trips with the researchers studying how the wildlife that lives in this inhospitable environment is responding to climate change. Zoologist Tracy Rogers searches for leopard seals with underwater microphones. From a safe distance she takes a small sample from a Weddell seal to find out what it’s been eating. Ornithologist Kerry-Jayne Wilson discovers that an iconic breeding colony of Adelie penguins at Cape Denison, the rocky area where Douglas Mawson built his expedition hut, has depleted numbers as the fast ice has grown.

Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

Image: Ice-blocked bow of the Shokalskiy and expedition doctor Andrew Peacock

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27 minutes

Last on

Sun 5 Jan 2014 00:32GMT

Weddell Seals

Weddell Seals

Adelie Penguins

Adelie Penguins
A line-up of Adelie penguins

Icescape

Icescape
Early morning view of an iceberg in pack ice

Stranded!

Stranded!
Andrew Luck-Baker standing on the thick sea ice surrounding their research vessel, the Akademik Shokalskiy.

Port stern view

Port stern view

Extent of the iceΒ as seen from atop the ship

Broadcasts

  • Mon 30 Dec 2013 20:32GMT
  • Tue 31 Dec 2013 02:32GMT
  • Tue 31 Dec 2013 09:32GMT
  • Sat 4 Jan 2014 04:32GMT
  • Sun 5 Jan 2014 00:32GMT

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