we’re here for a three-week expedition
to deploy some time-lapse cameras on the
Antarctic Peninsula and on South Georgia
we’ve already told the powerful story of
what’s going on way up north I’ve always
wanted to tell the story of what’s going
on down here adding a story from this
part of the world makes the archive that
much more powerful the peninsula is one
of the fastest warming places in the
world the year-round temperatures at
Palmer Station are up five degrees on
average five degrees is an enormous
increase in warming that’s a big story
and the glaciers give us a chance to
bring that story to life
the South Georgia is a stunning place I
was completely unprepared for how
spectacular it would be
boys in the early 1800s this place was a
hub for sealing and whaling in 1914 a
service jackal Tain’s expedition stopped
here on its way to Antarctica his
photographer Frank Hurley shot some
pictures that document where the
glaciers were on the beach 1972 Phil
stone comes down and he does a study of
ice positions as well
Frank Hartley’s photographs from the
Shackleton trip are enormously valuable
the Whalers took photographs but they
took photographs of the whaling stations
of whaling activity Hurley’s pictures
are probably the earliest we have of the
general environment of South Georgia the
changes of South Georgia in the last
century or so are really quite marked as
far as the extreme ice survey is
concerned we thought her real work was
in Antarctica and when we got here I
realized that South Georgia was an
incredible opportunity for both art and
science South Georgia and the Antarctic
Peninsula down here in the air currents
blowing around the southern part of the
world it’s giving you a test for what’s
going on in these latitudes and you can
see the air and the climate changing
through these glaciers this one that’s
the one that was taken over there all
the deflation that may have occurred
could just throw off what we’re actually
looking at but I think overall we’re a
little bit higher than what this photo
has taken us but good god has that
changed in 1972 Burt Raab glacier was
this great big tongue of ice
licking down out of the Highlands laying
all the way across this area called gold
Harbor we just got here and there’s no
ice on the beach anywhere so big changes
have happened here our pictures
repeating what others have already done
makes an amazing long-term record
of how this area has changed we can
follow the retreat of glaciers from
satellites these days they produce very
precise numbers but in many cases
there’s simply no substitute for a
striking visual image I think it carries
power that raw numbers don’t I no longer
know how long the extreme ice survey is
going to go on I thought it would only
be a three year project now we’re on
your age and we’re basically committed
for five more years down here in the
southern hemisphere there’s some
connection between our minds the cameras
eyes and what’s going on in the
landscape there’s some voice that comes
through that process comes from the ice
through the camera through our minds and
back out in our voices to the society
around us we’re performing a service on
behalf of the landscape after a certain
point I am not even sure that it’s my
choice to make it’s just what is our
humble task to do
you
you
to deploy some time-lapse cameras on the
Antarctic Peninsula and on South Georgia
we’ve already told the powerful story of
what’s going on way up north I’ve always
wanted to tell the story of what’s going
on down here adding a story from this
part of the world makes the archive that
much more powerful the peninsula is one
of the fastest warming places in the
world the year-round temperatures at
Palmer Station are up five degrees on
average five degrees is an enormous
increase in warming that’s a big story
and the glaciers give us a chance to
bring that story to life
the South Georgia is a stunning place I
was completely unprepared for how
spectacular it would be
boys in the early 1800s this place was a
hub for sealing and whaling in 1914 a
service jackal Tain’s expedition stopped
here on its way to Antarctica his
photographer Frank Hurley shot some
pictures that document where the
glaciers were on the beach 1972 Phil
stone comes down and he does a study of
ice positions as well
Frank Hartley’s photographs from the
Shackleton trip are enormously valuable
the Whalers took photographs but they
took photographs of the whaling stations
of whaling activity Hurley’s pictures
are probably the earliest we have of the
general environment of South Georgia the
changes of South Georgia in the last
century or so are really quite marked as
far as the extreme ice survey is
concerned we thought her real work was
in Antarctica and when we got here I
realized that South Georgia was an
incredible opportunity for both art and
science South Georgia and the Antarctic
Peninsula down here in the air currents
blowing around the southern part of the
world it’s giving you a test for what’s
going on in these latitudes and you can
see the air and the climate changing
through these glaciers this one that’s
the one that was taken over there all
the deflation that may have occurred
could just throw off what we’re actually
looking at but I think overall we’re a
little bit higher than what this photo
has taken us but good god has that
changed in 1972 Burt Raab glacier was
this great big tongue of ice
licking down out of the Highlands laying
all the way across this area called gold
Harbor we just got here and there’s no
ice on the beach anywhere so big changes
have happened here our pictures
repeating what others have already done
makes an amazing long-term record
of how this area has changed we can
follow the retreat of glaciers from
satellites these days they produce very
precise numbers but in many cases
there’s simply no substitute for a
striking visual image I think it carries
power that raw numbers don’t I no longer
know how long the extreme ice survey is
going to go on I thought it would only
be a three year project now we’re on
your age and we’re basically committed
for five more years down here in the
southern hemisphere there’s some
connection between our minds the cameras
eyes and what’s going on in the
landscape there’s some voice that comes
through that process comes from the ice
through the camera through our minds and
back out in our voices to the society
around us we’re performing a service on
behalf of the landscape after a certain
point I am not even sure that it’s my
choice to make it’s just what is our
humble task to do
you
you
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