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Earth - the power of the planet
EARTH - THE POWER OF THE PLANET
Geologist Iain Stewart embarks on a personal journey to tell the life story of our planet, how it works and what makes it so special.
About the series
The first four films look at one of the great forces that shape the Earth (volcanoes, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice) and explore its central role in the Earth's story. We will see how all the planet's forces work together to make Earth a home for life.
In the final programme we will bring together the themes of the series and argue that Earth is an exceptionally unusual kind of planet. It is likely to be very rare indeed - and this gives us a special responsibility to look after our unique world.
Episode guide
Volcano | Oceans | Atmosphere | Ice | Rare Earth
Episode 1 - Volcano
Volcanoes are usually seen as destructive, frightening, but they are absolutely critical to making the Earth a home for life. They are part of something much bigger - a source of unimaginable heat located at the centre of the planet. No force has played a more important role in creating the planet we know today than the Earth's inner heat.
Highlights of the film include abseiling down into Ethiopia's Erta Ale lava lake, diving into Iceland in the split between the European and American plates, slo-mo footage of geysirs showing the plumbing that connects Earth's inner heat with the surface and swooping aeriels of New Zealand's Southern Alps to show how mountains form.
Further details about episode 1
Episode 2 - Oceans
The oceans are almost as ancient as the planet itself - when you look out over the sea you are looking at a view that is unchanged for billions of years. Yet oceans are also the planet's great unknown - their greatest depths have been visited less times than the surface of the moon.
For the Earth, the oceans are its great stabilising influence. They moderate the climate, distribute heat around the planet, and absorb dangerous chemicals. But push the oceans too far, and the results can be catastrophic. The greatest disaster for life on Earth happened when the oceans rebelled, and ended up killing 95% of all life on the planet.
Further details about episode 2
Episode 3 - Ice
Few of us can resist the beauty of snow and ice - and yet this is a substance that is strikingly ethemeral. For most of the Earth's history there has been virtually no ice on the planet at all. We live in a time of ice. And ice has some extraordinary powers that make it one of the most powerful forces on Earth.
The message of this film is that when the ice changes the effects are much greater than just the obvious changes in ice cover. The times when ice has taken over have seen some of the most dramatic changes in the Earth’s history. They have driven evolution, including our own evolution.
Further details about episode 3
Episode 4 - Atmosphere
You can’t see it, you can’t taste it and you can’t smell it, yet without it Earth would die instantly. The atmosphere is Earth’s protective layer, cloaking it in a warm, wet embrace, warding off damaging cosmic rays and providing the life giving oxygen which we depend on for our very lives.
But our atmosphere is completely different from any other planets – and according to the normal laws of chemistry it shouldn’t exist. What is extraordinary about our atmosphere is the way that it has been created by life.
Further details about episode 4
Episode 5 - The Rare Earth
In the final film we bring together the themes of the series and reach some startling conclusions. The Earth is an exceptionally unusual planet which has only been able to nurture and sustain complex life thanks to an extraordinary number of lucky breaks and coincidences.
Further details about episode 5
BBC webite for Earth: the Power of the Planet series
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