Transcript

NARRATOR

At minus one point nine degrees centigrade, the sea begins to freeze. A slight swell on the surface produces pancake ice. In the frigid air, the ice above water grows into crystals. The early explorers called these fantastic shapes 'ice flowers'.

As it gets colder and colder, the ice thickens. On the coast, it freezes fast to the margins of the land. Farther out, the pack ice consolidates into sea ice. The belt of ice surrounding the continent widens, advancing northwards two miles a day, and driving life before it.