this is the norwegian island of spit back and ok to eat in the spile bar archipelago in the arctic ocean. the town of new also is home to more than a dozen permanent scientific research centers it's the northernmost settlement of its kind in the entire world. right now some of the scientists are getting ready to start their working day. we're going to do some field research. that's when we leave the village we have to take our rifles because of the polar bears you know. there are more bears on svalbard than people about 3000 you know sort of the center of here if they attack it can be life threatening we have to be ready as his limbs go far. research station manager peter cooper chef ski and meteorologist marion ma to really face this sort of danger every day.

most of the research that's done here focuses on the local environment particularly the climate. more than 60 percent of the archipelago is common place yes the scientists observe and record any changes in this pristine arctic environment. this data can then be applied to the north polar region and the rest of the world. beyond her and mariam have left the village and will now head out into the wild but 1st beata loads the rifle with 4 cartridges just to be on the safe side.

then the scientists move into polar bear territory there on their way to one of the measuring stations that marian looks after. these instruments measure wind speed and wind direction close to the ground marian checks to make sure that the equipment is functioning properly and there's harsh environment. meanwhile marine biologist clara hopper is packing for a trip to the arctic ocean she hopes that the weather will be good and would find the scent. they thought is best to be out in the water when there's no wind and the equipment has to be lowered and raised vertically if those as buffeted by the wind

it's harder to keep everything stay bad list of you to hide in and so he like calm weather and the forecast for tomorrow looks quite good about them. obviously better from all and. doctoral student cloud of off also go along on this trip the 2 scientists are getting their testing equipment ready now so they won't have to do it on board the ship tomorrow. they'll try to collect as many water samples as possible. when there was a temperature is just below 0 degrees celcius is a chart. on this data is from yesterday. the surface water is just around 0 or below that it drops down to minus 0.3.

the weather forecast turns out to be correct clear skies not much wind and the calm sea. klara outlines the focus of their research. and as of this future we're studying phytoplankton the microscopic plants that grow on the ocean surface to find out what influences their growth and productivity and food yes that's because these firefighters have hands on other cornerstone of the arctic food web which provides nourishment for fish polar bears and other wildlife . and fish we want to see how the environment and climate change affect these organisms it's nice to see that so for the sake of the. climate change is a major focus of a joint french and german research facility at new alors and. right

now marion is preparing a device that will carry out measurements in the atmosphere at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers the probe is sent up to 4 times a day using a weather balloon. but 1st she has to calibrate the probe she plugs it into a chamber that creates conditions of 100 percent humidity these are most fair tests might seem straightforward just sending up a loon but it's not as easy as it sounds. if you don't attach the balloon to the young winding device properly the balloon can tear off our friend and it's windy the balloon will drift sideways and stead of upward and the progun fauna of you so if there's a lot that can go wrong as it is computed current flows you can come.

next marion compares the temperature sensors on a measuring device with a moment hers at this weather station if the data matches the probe is ready to go and the information that it puts out can be used by weather forecasters worldwide. meanwhile clodhopper is preparing a water collection container. she and her colleagues uses steel cable to lower the device which will take water samples of various depths. clara is particularly interested in finding samples of plants and also called micro algae. as soon as they bring the container back up they start analyzing its

contents. it's a good thing that they prepare the individual files in advance because it's cold out here. at the moment this thing at the end of the day with freezing in the. bank they put up with the weather because the study of micro provides crucial data. is required we didn't put these organisms produce about how the oxygen and they have atmosphere and it's well you know every 2nd breath that we take and he thinks he also absolutely had a lot of carbon dioxide by. carbon dioxide contributes to climate change. back at the research facility marion is getting ready to fill her weather balloon with helium.

she's done this hundreds of times but she still gets a kick out of it. the moon is made of highly elastic rubber it will have to withstand enormous fluctuations in air pressure as it rises through the atmosphere. all set. it's essential to make sure that the measuring device isn't damaged during takeoff . it looks good so far. about start over the balloons going straight up because there's not much wind. on it will just disappear into the clouds. as the balloon moves towards autonomy down to jute

of about 30 kilometers the device attached to it sends back data including temperature humidity and air pressure. but the scientists are doing much more than just measuring weather conditions they're also studying climate change and how it affects the environment and the analyzing the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. how do the component parts of the earth's ecosystem work together and how are they being altered by global warming it's issues task but the research is here at spitzbergen are up to it. klara will try to estimate the total amount of micro algae in this part of the ocean it's spring now and the organisms a multiplying on a massive scale. only

experts can spot the algae in this tube following about the water. you know yes and because they are right now we're at the height of the spring algal blooms that's when they grow quickly and they biomass is at its peak is to be your muscle problem but it's right when trees on learn turn green all at once. so it's been like this for 2 or 3 weeks now and it'll probably start dropping off next week you know to get them as 1st year that we were here we completely missed the spring just like i see water to us my students didn't believe that there was any such thing as a pollutant so we're always happy when we catch it in time our father has and all them is the ocean. but what if the water gets rough out here.

we have miles of ocean ok i've never been seasick i have a very sturdy stomach and what happens after that when i'm down in the antarctic with 13 meter waves i think it's great just. to say it's pretty calm today amounts of good news for the crew. marian checks in on how weather balloon. was here as i was all so far it's looking good the probe is sending back data the balloon has now reached an altitude of 12 kilometers and i assume that it will continue to fly entrancement. but it doesn't then she keeps an eye on the balloon as it rises. you know others on this

it's already reached the stratosphere the temperature is warmer there because of the layer of ozone molecules. in temperatures now minus $42.00 degrees celsius which is fairly warm so in winter the temperatures can drop to minus 80 but. so in the stratosphere it's already summer. pushbuttons fear of so much. that's confirmed by the data. really comes wasn't it's essential for us to take measurements that are highly accurate and properly calibrated. that data is not just used for weather forecasts but it's also a key part of our climate research and despite major trends in the climate we have to use data that's reliable and verifiable before but. during the winter about 30 people live in new earth a sun most of them a scientists from all over the world the population increases to more than 100 in

summer. with station manager to be shared ski talk tomorrow and about current weather conditions since a lot of their research is conducted outside. we asked her about the worst weather she's seen here. to. the start and the most extreme case was when we had rain one winter it was january and here we were at 80 degrees north latitude inside the arctic circle and it was raining the cup not an octopus and it wasn't me it was that like. not it was like experiencing global warming by the live. they've got. these 3 scientists from the french german research station also studying the effects of global warming today the head. doubt to conduct experiments on snow.

3 are microbiologists bad while back painter alex holland and rose later. you wouldn't expect to see people travelling by bicycle in the arctic but the research is can you snowmobiles right now the snow is melting and it's too soft. rose is not happy about that climb straight in that we can use this name. because it makes it easy to get up to. however we do have alternatives and their bikes now completely cleared so we can use bikes to get up we can use an electric car as we can't use any. 3 very contamination it does take more time that you have to be flexible enough to condition. tracks ability is also an important part of merion matterless job because much of her work depends

on the weather today she was shuttled to replace a radiation measuring device that's not going to happen. and i don't want to ruin my measurements by leaving footprints we not only measure thermal radiation. reflected radiation which tells us a lot about soil conditions or snow reflects a lot of light but not when it starts to melt we've done a lot of tests on the annual far. schmidt's element in tova snow is melting right now and footprints reproduce a darker pattern on the ground and that influences the radiation measurements. misnomer today he can start by and for those that i'm not going to replace the device today just wait until the snow is completely gone and the. pick of. for the past few years we've noticed that the thought has been starting earlier

lauder's or declaw they just keep that's an obvious indication of climate change and we can see it right here come on in. we have been working at this research station for nearly 20 years or until nearly notice these changes are in and the article says that's a major cause for concern it's very sad and publish them. meanwhile ben was getting ready to take some snow samples. that. the temperature is 3 degrees above freezing that's 10 degrees celsius higher than normal for early may. is collecting samples of microorganisms is wearing special clothing so that he doesn't contaminate the snow this is a key part of the scientists research. that particularly interested

in finding out what sorts of single celled organisms are present in the snow that's fallen here. rose keeps an eye out for polar bass that tough to spot against the snowy background. flater back in the laboratory the snow is melted list some poles are sorted numbered and packed in boxes but what's so important about these samples from spitzbergen bedrock are just as easily have collected some snow in the french alps. see if it's possible in this part of the arctic offer the warming trend is much stronger than it is in the rest of europe and walked on and we have the data to prove that so spitzbergen provides an excellent environment for us to study the effects of. some people and

we can see those objects more clearly here than elsewhere. what's more we can take measurements that are more accurate because there are a lot of people here this one over just for more cyclical formal it's a pristine environment. and that will help us to study the snow content even more effectively with. cultural for this phenomena. if you aunts place years and mountains create a unique look are a tree where scientists can study the effects of human activity on the earth's environment. here clara hopper and clara forth are analyzing the water samples that they took yesterday clara really enjoys this part of her research. before me a moment it's always exciting to look at things under the microscope. there's containers of water don't seem very interesting at 1st but then you run the water

through the filters sit down and take a closer look and there are lots of really beautiful shapes. and i really enjoy the swag. there. of course there's a serious side to this research the scientists are studying the impact that humans have on the environment. right now marion is on her way to the local air filter to carry out some tests. these high powered radio telescopes gather data from space now the researchers are going to launch a drone that's full of sensitive sensors that measure weather conditions in the drone data will supplement the information that's gathered by marian's balloon device.

marian says that she's impressed with this kind of technology. it's told it's great i think it's exciting and all of our researchers contribute something different to these projects and i speak we all work together and i think that's wonderful cause i do this with an idea of. the marine biologists are an important part of the team their research on trying tom growth plays an important role in determining the effects of climate change on the environment. the way that you and. the 2 researchers often spend 12 hours or more every day and all of our training. this time of year there's plenty of daylight klara explains the significance of our

work. so i know. on one hand we're trying to understand how climate change affects micro and not only here for now a days he could also be applied to other areas like the north sea. but at the same time it's important to remember that major european fishing grounds are moving north in annoyed by and is a little bit so if there are big changes in the ecosystem and it can no longer provide a proper environment for fish it's going to affect all of us. the researchers here on spitsbergen to trying to predict what those effects might be some of the changes in the local environment may later expand to include other parts of the earth. ski the head of the research station is well aware of the situation. that

is walked here longer than anyone else often under difficult conditions. familiar i miss my family and my friends and continent i also miss seeing trees and plants. the landscape is beautiful of course of them but there's not a lot of vegetation. beautiful forgot sort of. knew all this and boasts the world's northernmost post-office it's a remote region but marian says that the scientists who come from 11 different countries have created their own community here. in. these american researches that testing a captive balloon that collects weather data mary and of course takes an active interest in their work. for the. better happy to share

information because they understand that everyone here has to work together to solve scientific problems like. the researches don't need high tech equipment to tell them that the annual thawing is underway they can see for themselves. this year the snow and i started to melt early and far too quickly. for decades marion has been collecting data that indicates that global warming is progressing rapidly. since kids have elmo we've been observing these phenomena for the last 20 years this graph shows the average and more temperature here which has risen at

a rate of about $1.00 degrees celsius per decade and almost 6 out because that's a much larger increase than we've seen for the rest of the world. the earth's average temperature has risen by about one degree celsius over 100 years but here on spitsbergen the increase was 1.6 degrees in just 10 years. the arctic region is warming up faster than anywhere else in the world. here in new all or soon the world's northernmost research facility scientists work together to analyze the changes that are taking place in the earth's environment. at the end of the day they often get together to enjoy the midnight sun and forget

about work for a while. these scientists are committed to their various projects because they are concerned about the future of the planet. they carry out their work in the snowy world in us. in the atmosphere. and in the ice cold waters of the arctic ocean.

say cheese please. that was with this camera takes that phrase literally. and the man who built it has come up with a few other surprises. britain's brendan barry loves to take photos with unusual camera lens to go. back. to exploring beautiful landscapes

and industrial heritage. are lots of a commission destination but still an insider kept. in this part of this future and i feel that the small solace has great potential for. a small state that house a lot to offer. clem in 60 minutes d.w. . unity and justice and freedom the 1st words of the german national lands. 3 central values that form the foundation of this country. have these values

develop to host more. parties it to live by and defend the principles of news justice and freedom in our everyday lives. our german. series starts october 21st d w. a . my what is this man planning to do with this a block of cheese we'll find out more about his intentions later on in the show. hello and welcome to another fun filled edition of your i'm max i'm your host meghan lee here's a look at what.