A Strange Structure Was Found Beneath Antarctic Ice — NASA Has No Explanation

[00:00:00]We've all dreamed of visiting the Arctic and witnessing the natural wonders of polar bears frolicking [music] on ice flows or the aurora borealis dancing across the sky. Well, sorry to break it to you, but you won't find any tourists flocking to Antarctica anytime soon.

[00:00:16]Why, you may ask? Let's dive into it.

[00:00:19]First off, where is Antarctica? It's located in the Southern Hemisphere, specifically at the [music] South Pole.

[00:00:26]The southern ocean surrounds it and most of the continent is covered by ice, making it one of the most remote and frigid places on Earth. Now, [music] have you ever met someone who's visited Antarctica? Probably not. It's one of the least visited places on the planet, and only a handful of lucky explorers have seen its interior, which is mostly made up of glaciers and ice fields. But trust me when I say the wildlife and scenery are out of this world.

[00:00:55]Why shouldn't you travel to Antarctica?

[00:00:58]Well, for starters, the environment is incredibly fragile and can be easily damaged. Plus, there are no native human populations on the continent. So, your travels [music] would essentially be like visiting an uninhabited island. And let's not forget that it's also one of the most expensive destinations to travel to. Despite all that, Antarctica is not exactly garden like a fortress.

[00:01:22]But there is an international agreement called the Antarctic Treaty. This treaty was negotiated to prevent any unwanted activity on the continent and bans some forms of testing done there by member states.

[00:01:36]But the primary reason we can't just waltz into Antarctica is that it has a delicate ecosystem [music] that needs protection. The treaty states that Antarctica should be used for peaceful purposes only and should be free from any human activity that could harm [music] the environment. Scientists are still learning about the continent's unique ecosystem. And our activity and machines could disrupt the delicate balance that [music] exists there. If you're still itching to go to Antarctica, getting permission isn't exactly a walk in the park.

[00:02:08]>> [music] >> US citizens, for example, need to complete a special form and send it to the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs.

[00:02:15]And [music] once you're there, you'll need to follow some strict guidelines to protect the environment, like not disturbing any wildlife or taking souvenirs like rocks, [music] plants, or animals. Now, technically, can you live in Antarctica? While there are no laws banning people from [music] living there permanently, it's a very inhospitable environment and unsuitable for human habitation. Temperatures can reach 76° F and below, making it nearly impossible for anyone to survive without the proper equipment and experience.

[00:02:48]Plus, [music] the nearest piece of land is over 1,000 m away, making any inhabitants completely cut off from the rest of [music] the world. Who knows, maybe one day we'll get the chance to visit this unique and fascinating continent. But until then, let's admire it from afar.

[00:03:08]Let's now talk a bit about the discovery of Antarctica. Unlike other places that were already inhabited, Antarctica never had a native human population, ancient Greek philosophers [music] had an idea about the continent and called it Antarcts, meaning opposite the bear. The bears it refers to are not the polar ones though, but [music] rather the great and little bear constellations, which are only observable in [music] the northern hemisphere. As a result, the term signifies the opposite of the land of the bear.

[00:03:42]Whailing [music] and sealing voyages in the late 1700s and early 1800s would venture further south when rounding Cape Horn at the tip [music] of South America. It was known that going further south often meant stronger winds, but also the [music] risk of hitting floating ice of all sizes and of winds and seas [music] that could prove dangerous to the ship and crew. Captain James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on January 17th, 1773 in the Ross Sea region. He reached a point further north a year later. And though he didn't sight land, he came to within 50 mi and saw deposits of rock held in icebergs indicating that a more southerntherly land existed.

[00:04:27]The first sighting of Antarctica is widely acknowledged to have taken place in January of 1820 during the voyage of two ships under [music] the command of Captain Fabian Gotautle Vonbelling House as part of a 2-year exploratory expedition around the world to discover new lands. The captain ships were the first to have crossed the Antarctic Circle since Cook.

[00:04:50]The first undisputed landing on Antarctica didn't happen until much later on January [music] 24th, 1895 at Cape Adore during the wailing voyage of the ship Antarctic led by Henrik Bull. A small boat with six or possibly seven men on board rode ashore during calm conditions.

[00:05:12]You might not believe it, but Antarctica is actually a desert. With all that ice, you'd think it'd be like a winter wonderland with snowball fights and hot cocoa all [music] day long. When we think of deserts, we picture camels and cacti [music] and people struggling to find water. But in Antarctica, it's a whole different story. The struggle isn't to find water. It's to find anything that's not covered in ice. And the [music] average rainfall has been just over 0.4 in in the past 30 years.

[00:05:44]That's like a few [music] drops of rain compared to what we're used to.

[00:05:48]So, technically, it's not the dunes or sizzling heat that makes a [music] desert, well, a desert. It's the lack of precipitation. But don't worry, if you [music] ever find yourself lost in Antarctica, you won't have to worry about getting thirsty. Just make sure you bring a jacket and some mittens because it's cold enough to make you into a popsicle.

[00:06:09]>> [music] >> Not only is Antarctica one of the driest places on Earth, but it's also the coldest, the windiest, and the highest.

[00:06:17]Talk about overachieving. The penguins [music] and scientists down in Antarctica have at times found themselves in a bit of a pickle when it comes to time. [music] You see, unlike the rest of us on this big blue planet, there is no Antarctica time zone. All the lines of longitude meet at a single point at the South Pole, making it a bit of a headscratcher when trying to figure out what time it is.

[00:06:42]Now, you might be thinking, "But how do the scientists and researchers keep track of time down there?" [music] Good question. They typically stick to the time zone of the country they departed from. However, with stations from all over the world on the Antarctic Peninsula, things can get a little wacky. Imagine trying to coordinate with your neighboring countries without accidentally waking them up in the middle of the night.

[00:07:08]You might think that not much could survive in a place where the temperature is extremely cold, [music] the sun barely shows up, and the wind could blow you away faster than a tumbleeed. Well, as in many places on Earth, life found a way in Antarctica, too. Believe it or not, this frozen continent is buzzing with activity. It's home to billions of krill, which in turn [music] attract lots of seals and more penguins than you can shake a fish at.

[00:07:37]But don't let their cute and cuddly appearance fool you. Penguins are the ultimate swimmers with streamlined bodies that would make Olympic medal winners jealous. They come ashore [music] to breed and chill. But their real talent is stealing pebbles from each other and forming mathematically precise huddles to stay warm. Antarctica is also home to the largest species of penguin on Earth. It's called [music] the emperor penguin. Sure, these creatures are flightless birds, but that doesn't [music] mean they can't jump. In fact, some of them can leap up to 120 in. And let's not forget about the seals. With their furry bodies and special [music] songs, these marine mammals are protected by the Antarctic Treaty, and they're thriving in the cool waters of the Southern Ocean, too. But the real stars of the show are the whales. During the Antarctic summer, these huge creatures [music] show up in droves to chow down on the abundant krill. It's indeed like a whale buffet down there. The South Pole is more than penguins and endless snow. There's a hidden ghost world within it. Look, it's right here on the globe. Don't confuse Antarctica with the Arctic, [music] which is at the top of our maps. Much smaller in size and, let's face it, way less mysterious.

[00:08:54]The ice [music] sheet covering Antarctica is about 1 to three miles thick, which is up to 16 Eiffel Towers stacked on each other. This massive [music] blanket hides the true features and contours of Antarctica's land. We still don't know much about this mysterious [music] continent, and it is ice and snow that are to blame. We still don't even know the true shape and size of this continent. Mapping Antarctica [music] without some huge shovels is an incredibly hard task. But satellites learned to penetrate the [music] ice with their cameras. And now we know there's actually an enormous dramatic ancient [music] landscape beneath the snow. The ghost of the past.

[00:09:37]About 90 million years ago, Antarctica was a much warmer place. It was actually a lush rainforest with tons of plants and probably [music] teameming with life. It even had rivers flowing through it. Then the ice came. This happened about 34 million years ago during the transition from the eosene to the ooligosine when our planet cooled [music] significantly. It was the beginning of one of our several ice ages.

[00:10:04]The land remained but now was hidden under ice and snow that [music] got thicker and thicker. To a regular eye, Antarctica turned into a white desert, vast, flat, and featureless.

[00:10:18]Time went on. This massive ice sheet moved around, smoothing and shifting the ground beneath it. Over the millions of years, it changed what the land looked like. Now, if we looked under the ice, it wouldn't hold any signs of the original South Pole, except for one place. In areas where the ice is especially thick and doesn't move much, like in East Antarctica, it has actually worked the other way around. It became like a super thick blanket that protects the land.

[00:10:50]Normally, things like wind or rain slowly wear away the ground over time, changing its shape. But since we have this protective ice blanket, it prevents these natural processes from reaching the stuff underneath. So, the ground stayed almost the same for millions of years, like it's been frozen in time.

[00:11:09]This special area near the Aurora and Schmidt subglacial basins has become the ghost of Antarctica's landscape.

[00:11:17]This place was barely touched even since it was first covered in snow 34 million years ago. This is a historical footprint, a place that can tell us what Antarctica's ground looked like before it became a freezing nightmare.

[00:11:32]As scientists peered under East Antarctica, they saw an amazing ghost, the traces of the rivers that were flowing there millions of years ago, various valleys, and some weird little islands, as well as three big chunks of land shaped like the letter U. Hey, what's that all about?

[00:11:53]You see, the continents on our planet are moving constantly, sliding along the red hot lava mantle like cereal on milk.

[00:12:01]Over history, they came together and broke apart several times. Hundreds of millions of [music] years ago, several continents were a part of one enormous Gonduana. Antarctica was one of them. It used to be one huge land mass. But when Gonduana broke apart, the poor continent got stretched by tectonic forces.

[00:12:23]Parts of land were pulled away from each other. Whoosh. And they got torn apart.

[00:12:29]And that's how [music] we got these big chunks or blocks of land under thick layers of ice. In any case, scientists now want to explore this ghost a bit more. [music] But to study it deeply, they need to actually drill down through the ice, like using a straw to get to the bottom of a thick shake. This will help them pick up some rocks and dirt from way below to learn more about the Earth's history and climate. Antarctica is the fifth largest [music] continent in the world, approximately bigger than the entirety of Europe or Australia, competing with the entire South America in [music] size. Aside from East Antarctica, we discussed there are several more regions, Antarctica Peninsula, South [music] Pole, West Antarctica, and the Ross Sea.

[00:13:17]The continent [music] is basically a frozen sandbox, and all its hidden, mysterious landscape is actually less explored than Mars' terrain.

[00:13:26]We only know for sure that without ice, it [music] wouldn't just be flat and empty, but an entire world full of big mountains, huge canyons, and even fiery volcanoes.

[00:13:38]Some of these volcanoes are so huge that they peak above the layers of snow. In West Antarctica alone, there are at least 138 volcanoes, though only about eight or nine are active today. One of the craziest ones is [music] Mount Arabus, the southernmost volcano and the tallest one on the continent, about 12,000 ft high. And deep beneath the ice sheet, this guy hosts incredible, beautiful subvcanic caves. The temperatures there are warm enough for t-shirts.

[00:14:12]The Antarctic Peninsula, or lesser Antarctica, [music] looks like a bunch of mountainous islands deeply underground. It has newer volcanic rocks that are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, [music] which is like a giant circle of volcanoes and earthquake zones around the Pacific Ocean.

[00:14:30]The greater Antarctica is a huge part, almost as big as Australia. It consists of East Antarctica and the South Pole.

[00:14:38]beneath the ice. It's a place of rocks that have been around for a very, very long time, including the special zone we mentioned. You probably know that Antarctica is nearly devoid [music] of humans. No wonder with a mean temperature of about -46° F.

[00:14:57]But even though this place is horrifyingly cold and deserted, life still clings on, you guessed it, in the underworld. In 2017, scientists found DNA traces of algae, moss, and even possibly unknown small animals [music] in the deep caves. That means that even in such crazy conditions, there are still unique ecosystems thriving in [music] little isolated warm pockets beneath the snow. There was another incredible [music] find beneath Antarctica's Ross ice shelf, a lively ecosystem vibing within an underground river.

[00:15:34]Scientists [music] have long suspected that Antarctica's underworld should have some freshwater lakes and rivers. One day, [music] a satellite spotted a groove there. They decided to explore it [music] and used a hot water drill to melt their way through the ice. As they reached the underworld, they dropped a camera into one of those hidden fresh rivers. [music] And at first, they thought they'd find just some rocks or something. But instead, they stumbled upon hundreds of amphipods. tiny shrimplike creatures.

[00:16:06]Little ones instantly swarmed around the lens. Shrimps blocked the camera and scientists couldn't check out what they wanted to. Pretty funny, but at least that means that there really is an important ecosystem deep within Antarctica. Now they're going to explore it.

[00:16:23]And all this is just the beginning of the mysterious underworld. Antarctica snow also hides the deepest canyon on Earth under [music] the Denman Glacier.

[00:16:32]Well, Mariana Trench is still the deepest point on Earth, [music] but it's a part of the oceanic crust, geologically speaking.

[00:16:40]Also, in 1958, explorers found a huge mountain range under the ice, as big and tall [music] as the famous Alps mountains. The range stretched for about 745 mi with peaks as high as 1.7 mi. And all this magnificence is buried under tons of ice. Who knows what else we might find there. Antarctica holds about 60% of our entire planet's fresh water, which means it would be pretty bad if it melted. For example, [music] there's this doomsday glacier, officially known as Thuait Glacier. It's a huge ice formation about the size of Florida, and it's melting [music] right now. Every year, the sea levels rise by 4% because of it. If this guy melts away completely, the sea levels all around the world will increase [music] by 2 ft, which might not sound like a lot, but it would be catastrophic for coastal areas.

[00:17:38]Luckily, researchers have found that even if its ice shelf were to collapse in the next 50 years, the glacier itself wouldn't retreat as quickly as they feared. It's still losing ice rapidly, but it would be quite a slow process.

[00:18:04]Leave it to people wandering on Google Earth to stumble upon the world's [music] newest and weirdest places ever.

[00:18:11]Like this mysterious pyramid discovered [music] in Antarctica. Soon enough, the internet blew up with all sorts of theories [music] regarding this unusual shape. Could it be a sign from a different life form? Is this pyramid indeed natural or is it man-made?

[00:18:27]For starters, it's not the first time we've discovered a pyramid in the Antarctic. The first one was observed by the British Antarctic Expedition in the 1910s and kept secret for a long time.

[00:18:38]Its discovery being kept hidden only added to the mystery. A second such structure was discovered in 2016, which further increased the interest in the matter. The mystery was soon enough deciphered by scientists. These formations are just mountains.

[00:18:57]They're located near the Ellsworth Mountains, a range over 250 mi long. So, they're just mountain peaks that have broken through the ice sheet. As for their particular shape, it's just a coincidence. Pyramids [music] are found throughout nature. The Matterhorn in the Alps and Mount Balstinder in Iceland, for example, are quite similar in terms of shape. As for the official name of these peaks, they're called nun attacks, or peaks of rock peeking through a glacier or an ice sheet.

[00:19:26]Antarctica has way more incredible features, like the fact that it's home of 60 to 90% of the world's fresh water.

[00:19:35]That's because its ice sheet is the biggest on our planet, stretching across 5.4 million square miles. I'll spare you the calculations, but that leaves only 1% of the continent ice free.

[00:19:48]Antarctica's ice reaches 2.7 mi thick at its deepest point, meaning half the height of Mount Everest. Should it ever melt completely, our sea levels would rise to roughly 200 ft. It wasn't always this cold, though. At some point in our planet's history, Antarctica had some average temperatures, as the city of Melbourne has today. It took a lot of research, but scientists figured out that Antarctica's [music] temperatures could have reached up to 62.6° 6° F. Sure, that was 40 to 50 million years ago, but if you think about it, it was at the same time when dinosaurs roamed our Earth. Time [music] is also different on this icy continent.

[00:20:28]All the lines of longitude that help us [music] calculate different time zones merge into a single point at the South Pole. Here, there are 6 months of daylight in the summer, followed by 6 months of complete darkness during the colder season. So scientists working here stay on average in the same time zone they've come from.

[00:20:54]The Bloodfalls aren't a chapter of a thriller movie. They are merely a series of waterfalls located in one of the driest regions of Antarctica. They emerge from an underground lake filled with a special type of bacteria. These little organisms use sulfates as fuel instead of sugars, which makes them very intriguing for scientists. The water contained in this lake is so full of iron that it basically just rusts when it meets air. So, the reddish color of the waterfall also gives it its trademark name.

[00:21:27]The megalodon was the largest predator ever known in our planet's history. In terms of its location, the megalodon lived practically in all waters on our globe except near the poles. The reason why there are no megalodon teeth found in Antarctica is probably because the gigantic creature was adapted to only warm tropical and subtropical waters. If you plan to visit Antarctica by boat someday, just know you might not get there on a non- metallic boat. The hull of your transportation device must be made of either steel or aluminum to withstand the harsh weather conditions here. Antarctica isn't home to a lot of bugs. In fact, there is only one true species of insect that calls this place home. It's a wingless mitch called Belgica Antarctica. This fly is so tiny that it only reaches 008 to 23 in long, but it's still the Antarctic's largest terrestrial animal. A lot of Antarctic fish also come with an antifreeze substance in their blood. They don't necessarily need it for protection against the cold temperature, but mostly against touching ice. These antifreezes are made up of large glyoprotein molecules. They surround any small ice crystals that may form, making sure they don't spread through the animals tissues, which could cause a lot of damage. They also create a sort of small pillow blocking the sharp ice crystals, so they're less likely to cause any pain.

[00:22:58]It also doesn't rain a lot here on this icy continent, but one amazing meteorological quirk of Antarctica is that it's full of diamond dust. This dust is basically small ice crystals that pop out of humid air close to the Earth's surface. Think of it like an icy fog. As they flow through the air and get touched by sunlight, they begin to sparkle, making visitors here feel like they're surrounded by diamonds.

[00:23:26]It's probably the last place you'd want to go into labor, but in 1978, the first person was born here ever. Emil Marco Palma was its name. And ever since, 10 other people have been born here in Antarctica.

[00:23:40]There's a lake on this icy continent that is so full of salt, it makes it impossible for it to freeze over, even if temperatures can go as low as 5° F.

[00:23:50]That's because pure water freezes at 32° F. Water that has salt in it, or any other substance for that matter, will freeze, but at a way lower temperature.

[00:24:00]That lower temperature is adjustable depending on the substance itself and the amount that has been placed into the water.

[00:24:09]Antarctica was the last official continent to be discovered. It remained completely unseen until the 1820s, but it took another 20 years to confirm it was actually a continent and not just a group of icy islands.

[00:24:24]Just because it's really cold here doesn't mean you can't go on a date here. One December night, an American scientist that was posted in Antarctica [music] logged into a dating app simply out of curiosity. He was certain no other profiles would show up. But to his surprise, he found someone soon enough.

[00:24:43]Another researcher who was stationed just 45 minutes away by helicopter, of course. They eventually got together and went on the first date in Antarctica ever recorded.

[00:24:54]Apart from ice, this continent has something else way more [music] abundantly than any other piece of land on Earth. Meteorites. If we look at the research done by scientists, meteorites have equal chances of reaching any place on our planet. However, once they go through our atmosphere, the situation is a bit more complex. That's because different climates on our planet, like the humid ones found near the jungle, have a lot of moisture and oxygen, which will corrode most meteorites. The climate in Antarctica is really dry, so the possibility of meteorites corroding is little to none. More so, it's way easier to spot these rocks on the icy white surface of this area than in any other place on Earth.

[00:25:39]If you're not scared of the cold, you'll surely freak out when you hear about the winds here.

[00:25:44]That's because Antarctica is for the most part the windiest place on Earth.

[00:25:49]Wind speeds have been reported here to reach even 200 mph.

[00:25:55]In 2012, a scientific expedition to Antarctica was nearing a groundbreaking [music] discovery. After drilling 2 m into the thick ice, scientists [music] were just inches away from reaching water that hadn't seen sunlight in 20 million years. This [music] pristine water, untouched by the outside world for millennia, could hold unimaginable secrets about the past and the history of life on Earth. But as they neared the water's surface, communication with the team suddenly went dark. 5 days later, two of the scientists were found dead, and the official report stated their deaths were caused by hypothermia.

[00:26:32]However, there was a witness who suggested that the story was far more complicated than it appeared. Antarctica is unique in many ways. It is not owned by any country and the laws governing its land and research are controlled by the Antarctic Treaty which heavily regulates access to the continent.

[00:26:50]Visitors are restricted to specific zones and they are [music] required to be accompanied by an approved escort to ensure they don't stray into [music] areas that are off limits. While these regulations are presented as measures to protect the fragile [music] environment of Antarctica, many insiders believe there is another far more sinister reason for the strict control. Something dangerous and farreaching lies buried beneath the ice. In February 2021, a chilling image appeared on the paranormal board of 4chan. A user posted a screenshot of Google Maps [music] showing a bizarre shape in the frozen landscape. what appeared to be a massive spider-like [music] creature. At first, people dismissed it as a hoax, a product of imagination or digital manipulation.

[00:27:39]However, things [music] took a strange turn when Anton, the son of a former Navy lieutenant who had been stationed at McMmero Base in the [music] 1990s, posted photographs of his father's military memorabilia.

[00:27:52]His father, Joe, had uncovered strange and disturbing occurrences in Antarctica, especially in [music] a restricted zone to the east of McMmero.

[00:28:02]Joe had attempted to inquire about the area, [music] but he was met with resistance and told that the information was classified.

[00:28:10]Anton revealed the coordinates of the location, which when checked on Google Earth, displayed blurred images. Joe's first [music] night at McMmero was marked by a mysterious event that would haunt him [music] for years. Soldiers arrived at the base carrying a man who was critically injured. The injuries were too precise, [music] too unnatural for a simple animal attack. And the soldier who brought him in was in a panic. The soldier muttered something about releasing something we shouldn't have. When Joe pressed for more information, he was met with hostility and a gun was pointed at him. The soldiers refused to speak further on the matter. This encounter was only the beginning of Joe's unsettling experiences [music] at the base. By the early 2000s, reports started emerging from [music] a Japanese ship patrolling the Antarctic waters. The crew claimed to have spotted what they initially thought [music] was an iceberg until it began to move. The object, which was 60 ft [music] long, had pale skin and large black eyes, features that seemed otherworldly. Some of the crew reported seeing arms, hands, [music] and fingers on the creature, while others insisted it had a long tail resembling a mermaid's. This mysterious creature, later dubbed Nan, would occasionally [music] surface to observe the ships before vanishing again into the icy depths. In [music] 2007, a satellite image surfaced, showing something large moving beneath the water near the Antarctic coastline. Cryptozoolologists and conspiracy theorists alike were quick to speculate that this could be an intelligent species, [music] long hidden from humanity in the frigid, dark depths of the Ant or Arctic oceans. Some even suggested that it might be the product of a secret, sinister genetic [music] experiment, a hybrid of whale DNA and human genetics designed to create a creature with abilities [music] far beyond anything nature had intended. As Joe continued his investigation at McMmero, he began to notice an increasing number of soldiers arriving with strange, precise [music] injuries.

[00:30:22]These wounds, too perfect to be the result of animal attacks, were attributed to encounters with creatures known as striders. The striders were massive, terrifying entities capable of leaping across the icy terrain in incredible bounds. As Joe dug deeper into classified files, he discovered links [music] between Antarctica and secret military operations.

[00:30:46]It appeared that the Striders were part of a covert project that involved breeding super predators, creatures designed to carry out specific, highly dangerous missions, including human trafficking. The secret research [music] facilities that Joe uncovered were breeding these creatures in hidden laboratories deep beneath the ice. Joe's investigation revealed that the goal of this breeding program was not just to create a terrifying monster, but to use it as a tool for trafficking humans across borders. He uncovered evidence of a global human trafficking network with shipments of people being sent to various parts of the world. This secret operation, which had connections to powerful governments and organizations, was operating under the radar, its full scope hidden from the public eye. In 2017, researchers studying Lake Vastto, one of the largest subglacial lakes in Antarctica, discovered DNA samples that suggested the presence of a life form with intelligence far beyond that of any known species. The creature, known as organism 46b, was captured temporarily by a Russian research team, and its abilities were nothing short of astonishing. The creature could disable security systems and even change its shape, adapting to its surroundings. This was not just an ancient predator. It had evolved into something far more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. The official Russian report, which claimed the research was focused on studying bacteria, failed to mention the true nature of the creature. Later, the records were erased and any trace of the creature was scrubbed from the official record. But Joe's [snorts] investigation didn't end there. His quest for the truth led him to a hidden journal that described the Strider's terrifying abilities in even greater detail. As Joe pieced together the information, he uncovered evidence of a secret alliance between the US, China, and Chile, working together to create a monstrous army of these [music] creatures. The Striders were designed for very specific missions, including targeted [music] human trafficking. Joe's investigation revealed that this network of operations extended far beyond Antarctica, connecting secret laboratories, military [music] bases, and underground tunnels that span the globe. After Joe's untimely death, his son Anton [music] discovered his father's old computer filled with files that could expose the truth.

[00:33:25]Anton began the long process of [music] recovering the lost data, but he quickly learned that others who had tried to reveal the secrets of Antarctica's [music] hidden operations had been silenced. Anton's final post was a desperate [music] plea for help, but just days later, he vanished without a trace. The government [music] has since scrubbed all images and data related to these discoveries, but many believe that the dark network of creatures and secret operations still exists beneath the ice.

[00:33:56]Its reach extending into every corner of the world. The full extent of what lies beneath Antarctica's frozen surface may never be fully understood. Some believe that there are forces at play far beyond [music] human comprehension, hidden in the cold depths of the continent.

[00:34:14]Whether these creatures are the result of nature, genetic experimentation, or something else entirely, one thing is certain. The mysteries of Antarctica are far from solved. [music] And the truth may be far more terrifying than we could ever imagine.

[00:34:33]Antarctica. It was once a green land full of dinosaurs, but now it's a frozen continent bigger than that of the US that doesn't belong to anyone. It isn't hard to find. Wherever you go, just go south until you get to the big icy thing at the south pole of our planet. It lies within the Antarctic Circle and it's the largest single mass of ice on Earth. The continent is bigger than the US and even bigger than all of Europe. And still, Antarctica was officially discovered recently. Scientists hadn't known of its existence until 1820. After the discovery, it took another two decades to confirm it was a whole new continent and a few more decades after that to decide on a name. In Antarctica, anti means the opposite. So, Antarctica literally means the opposite of the Arctic.

[00:35:23]Now, even before scientists discovered the land, ancient Greeks already theorized that there must be a southern continent to balance out the Arctic in the north. Also, some scientists who studied Polynesian artwork and [music] oral history, believe that Polynesians found the continent over a millennia before the Europeans did. Anyways, today we all know of this icy land at the South Pole. Because of its location, there are just two seasons there, summer and winter, and both last 6 months. In summer, it's a bit warmer, [music] and the continent exists in pure daylight.

[00:35:57]And in winter, it's dark all day long.

[00:36:00]98% of Antarctica is ice. This continent alone stores 60% of the planet's fresh water. And yet, despite all those water reserves, Antarctica is the biggest desert in the world. By definition, a desert is an area with sparse vegetation and little snow or rain. Notice that plenty of sand isn't a necessary condition here. Even though the continent does have some sand and even sand dunes, it also gets a lot of wind.

[00:36:28]Antarctica is the windiest continent on Earth. And wind speeds can reach 200 mph. That's even faster than hurricane winds.

[00:36:38]The little snow the land gets never melts. It just builds up over time for centuries and millennia. So there's a thick thick ice layer there. This makes Antarctica full of hidden secrets.

[00:36:49]There's a whole new world underneath its ice. For example, there are a lot of mountains on the continent that are like 9,000 ft tall. It's taller than three Burj Khalifas stacked on top of each other if we must. And that's currently the tallest skyscraper in the world. But we don't see all those mountains because they're all hidden under the ice sheet that it's almost 16,000 ft thick.

[00:37:12]There's also a lake down there beneath over 11,000 ft of snow. The lake is called Lake Vosto, named after Vashtak Research Station under which it's located.

[00:37:23]Originally, it was just a hypothesis.

[00:37:25]Over a century ago, a scientist suggested that the huge pressure created by tons of ice could decrease the melting point of ice in the lowest layers of the ice sheet, creating liquid water, which could form a lake. He didn't prove his ideas in his lifetime, but others continued his work and confirmed that this theory was true.

[00:37:45]There's also a canyon in Antarctica, hidden underneath huge masses of snow, too. It's deeper than the Grand Canyon we have in Arizona.

[00:37:54]There is a mountain range that divides the continent into two parts, east Antarctica and west Antarctica. The western part of the continent is experiencing higher temperatures and is starting to melt. If West Antarctica melts and releases its stored water, it will raise the average global sea level by about 16 ft. That will be enough for some cities all over the world to completely disappear. Perhaps the first to turn into a water world will be Thailand's capital, Bangkok, which is just 5 ft above sea level. Then it will be Amsterdam in the Netherlands, followed by Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam, Cardiff in the UK, and New Orleans in the US.

[00:38:36]People do a lot of work in Antarctica now, residing there for many months at a time to study this mystery of a continent. Over the years, even a few children were born there. But it's not a country and the land doesn't belong to anyone. It's governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, an agreement of peaceful research and collaboration that suspends all territorial claims. It was first signed by 12 nations and now [music] there are 59 supporters, half of whom have decision-making powers. The continent is occupied all year round by researchers from all over the world.

[00:39:10]There are about 5,000 people living there in summer and about a thousand in winter. Yet no one is a permanent resident there. People come and go, and the scientists take turns spending time there.

[00:39:22]The average yearly temperature there is -30°.

[00:39:27]But there was a time when Antarctica was about as warm as Melbourne, Australia is today. It was about 40 to 50 million years ago. I wasn't around then. But the continent had green forests and dinosaurs roaming its land, chilling in the sun in a 63°ree Fahrenheit environment. That was before penguins.

[00:39:47]In our age, it's so cold that you won't even find any trees or bushes in Antarctica, just the snow. The only plants that can thrive in such extreme temperatures [music] are lychans, moss, and algae. People can't stand such freezing conditions for lengthy periods of time either. So, the continent has never had any indigenous population.

[00:40:08]Well, that is if we don't [music] count penguins, seals, whales, and a few other types of birds that live there. Now, Antarctica's fauna is the scariest and least diverse on the planet because only a few organisms can withstand its harsh conditions and because non-natives aren't allowed to be brought there. So, if you decide to travel to Antarctica with your cat, well, you can't. Hey, I don't make the rules. But those few species that live on the South Pole totally own the place. There are no more than 5,000 people there and around 20 million penguins.

[00:40:43]They are a kind of settlers, though.

[00:40:45]Penguin's first ancestors lived in Australia and New Zealand. There are still a few penguin species there, including the smallest penguin on Earth that is just 1 ft tall. Still, most of the penguins migrated to Antarctica at some point, possibly because they were attracted by the greater food supply there. It's not the cold that made them like the land. It turns out most [music] penguins leave the continent when the summer ends. The only ones that stay there are male emperor penguins, and they do it to warm and protect eggs left by their mates. But where do all the other penguins go? At first, it was a big mystery even to scientists. But then they attached some tiny location devices to the legs of a few of these animals and figured it out. Penguins go to live in the southern oceans while it's too cold in Antarctica. None of them go ashore for half a year until they get back to the continent.

[00:41:38]When they come back, it's when those eggs left for male penguins to nurture start hatching. And so penguin families can be together when it happens.

[00:41:47]Penguins eat different fish and the ocean is full of those despite its cold temperature. In some areas, water can reach below freezing temperatures because it's salty. But fish don't freeze there because they have antifreeze proteins in their bodies.

[00:42:02]Then there are also about a million seals in Antarctica. They like fish, too, and they can hold their breath underwater for 2 hours. They see way better underwater than in the bright light of the day. And they also use their whiskers to locate food. Their breathing holes in the ice can freeze while seals are away, and they must use their teeth to make a new one. Seals can even sleep under water and then resurface occasionally to get some air without waking up. I can appreciate that.