SCUBA MEDIA
SBelow : an underwater ‘ icefall ’.
Meltwater seeping down from cliffs above has formed a cascading slope of rapidly frozen ice crystals at Granite Harbour , McMurdo Sound , Antarctica .
Photos © BBC
g The maximum dive time was typically 45 minutes , but there was one occasion when the divers stayed longer while filming in a remote location they had been taken to by helicopter . “ We had been left on the ice with emergency tents in case we were hit by a condition-1 storm that had been brewing ,” said Kathryn . “ I was on surface support above a hole we had made in the ice , and the weather was really closing in . Every minute they went over the maximum dive time , my anxiety levels shot up , because if you get into trouble that far away from support , it can be very serious indeed . In the end they surfaced after an hour . They had been filming an especially beautiful ice cascade .
The underwater sequences of Frozen Planet have set new standards in polar filming , and the diving community has been especially supportive of the series . For the creatures that inhabit the Polar Regions , life can be a harsh struggle and death is never far away . The team behind this landmark series has portrayed the beauty and harshness of life at the poles with an unflinching eye , giving us all an insight into life in a frozen world . z
BBC FROZEN PLANET Episode 5 – at a glance
The crew filmed on foot with snow-shoes and cross-country skis in temperatures of -50 ° C . Their eyes froze shut and plastic camera parts snapped easily . The team where able to film a polynya – a giant hole in the ice that stays open all winter – crammed full with the total world population of spectacled eider ducks . Two cameramen each spent 87 hours underwater at temperatures of almost -2 ° C in order to film brinicles – icy fingers of death – growing for the first time . The first time that the world ’ s smallest carnivorous mammal – the least weasel – has been filmed plucking the fur from its vole prey and making a macabre fur duvet to snuggle into .
Frozen Planet is broadcast on BBC One Wednesday evenings at 21:00
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