Original subtitles

Narrator: They're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new, Mysterious phenomena

That defy explanation.

[ beeping, distorted music ]

Apocalypse california.

This place is just Completely desolate.

I've never seen anything Like this before.

Narrator: the devil turns up Among the dunes.

Chamberlain: What is it doing here?

That's a mystery We got to explore.

Narrator: and the weird red dot From another star system.

This area is sometimes called The bermuda triangle of space.

Narrator: Baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

-- captions by vitac -- Www.Vitac.Com

[ beeping ] [ camera shutter clicking ]

[ whirring ]

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

**

[ frequency warbles ] [ whirring ]

**

July 2019.

An aerial survey of california's Sierra nevada mountains

Captures something worrying In the landscape below.

If you look at this area On a wider scale,

There's forest everywhere.

But then what stands out Is this patch

Of nothing.

Ruben: There are no straight lines,

So it's not like It's been cleared for anything.

The trees are just kind of dying In this one spot.

Narrator: trees often die

From forest fires Or bug infestations.

But this patch of dead trees Looks different.

The image is analyzed further

Using maxar securewatch systems.

We can go back in time With our imagery

And look at data that was Collected decades ago.

So if we go back to 2002,

And if we jumped to 2019, today,

We can see that there's been A significant change

Over time in this area.

Narrator: switching to infrared To highlight vegetation growth

Confirms a powerful force

Is decimating large swaths Of california forest.

Something is spreading From this one area

And killing the trees.

We're talking about Maybe thousands.

What could be possibly Causing this?

Narrator: geologist nick pollock Is heading to the site

To investigate.

What worries him is The location of the dead trees.

We're not sure What's causing it,

But we do know That it's located on the edge

Of one of the largest volcanic Complexes in the united states

Called The long valley caldera complex.

Narrator: The long valley caldera

Is a 200-square-mile Super volcano

That sits under The sierra nevada mountains.

From the skies, All appears peaceful.

But beneath these forested Slopes lie 240 cubic miles

Of roiling 2,000-degree-fahrenheit magma.

Pollock: Well, I think because of where

These tree patches are situated,

It may have something to do With volcanic gases

That are emanating up from the Magma chamber deep underground.

Narrator: Over 700,000 years ago,

The long valley super volcano Erupts

With 2,000 times The force of that

Which destroyed Mount st. Helens.

It wipes out life Across much of north america,

Reducing the landscape To smoking ash.

The eruption was enormous And very deadly.

It wreaked havoc Over thousands of miles.

Narrator: pollock hopes The weird tree deaths

Could shed light on the mystery Of whether this massive volcano

Will unleash Its destructive forces again.

Pollock: what's alarming About these satellite images

Is that the patch Is actually getting bigger,

Which suggests to me Ongoing activity,

Something that's continuing To grow in size and severity

And continuing to kill off These trees.

**

Narrator: pollock reaches The edge of the dead zone.

From here on in, He must be careful.

So, if my hypothesis is correct And these are volcanic gases,

I'm gonna put this gas mask on

Because these gases Could be deadly.

**

Yeah, this place is just Completely desolate.

I've never seen Anything like this before.

Narrator: whatever killed These trees appears to have

Also totally stripped The soil of life.

Pollock: we're in the middle Of a forest.

I would expect there To be some kind of shrubs

Or moss on the ground, But there's nothing.

Narrator: but something With pollock's volcanic theory

Doesn't stack up.

Pollock: If this is volcanic gases

Causing this forest to die off,

I would expect to see Some sulfur component,

But there's nothing that smells Like rotten eggs,

Which we normally associate With sulfur gas.

**

Narrator: Pollock considers if a different

Odorless killer is to blame.

Pollock: the next gas that

Might possibly be able To do something like this

To a forest is carbon dioxide.

[ beeping ]

The reading is normal here -- 356, 355.

So at least that tells me I'm pretty safe

To take off my gas mask.

Narrator: pollock knows that co2 Is heavier than air.

So when I set the instrument Here on the ground,

I'm still reading levels

That are within normal range For the atmosphere.

But if we were to Just dig into the ground...

[ fast beeping ]

...The levels are going up Super quickly.

Over 9,000.

They're almost maxing out The instrument.

These levels are crazy.

Narrator: Just a few inches down, Levels of the toxic gas

Are 25 times greater Than at ground level.

There's so much gas Trapped in the ground here.

I can't believe it.

And all we basically did Is scrape the surface here.

I have to imagine That where these tree roots are,

The co2 levels Could be even higher.

Narrator: co2 is plant food, Great for trees and shrubs

When it's in the air,

But poison when it's this Concentrated in the ground.

It's a little bit Counterintuitive

Because they take up co2 From the atmosphere

Through their leaves And into their cells.

But when co2 is in Too high of an abundance

Near the root systems, It actually inhibits the roots

From taking up Other important nutrients,

Which is probably what's causing The death of all these trees.

Narrator: A growing dead zone suggests

Increasing amounts Of toxic gases

Are rising Through the earth here.

And for a supervolcano Of this size,

That could be Seriously bad news.

The story starts below The surface here

Where the magma chamber sits.

And it has me really worried It could be a ticking time bomb.

**

Narrator: coming up --

Magma mountain's Exploding lake...

Pollock: It flows downhill,

Suffocating any humans or life Within its path.

Narrator: ...And africa's Billion-dollar oil bandits.

They build refineries out In the middle of nowhere.

This is big business.

**

**

Narrator: geologist nick pollock Is in california

Studying an alarming dead zone Of trees spotted from space.

What worries him Is that the ghost forest

Sits on one of the world's Biggest supervolcanoes.

I'm almost certain that The gas killing these trees

Is volcanic in origin.

And seeing those carbon dioxide Measurements

Up in the tree-kill area has me Really worried about this lake.

Narrator: pollock fears the lake Next to the dead trees

Could be absorbing vast amounts Of the volcanic co2.

Pollock: If the same carbon dioxide

That we see up there Is leaking underneath the lake,

It's gonna continue To get enriched and enriched

In carbon dioxide until -- Boom! -- it pops.

Narrator: a giant bubble of co2 Emerging from a lake

Might sound harmless,

But it is anything but.

Lake nyos in cameroon, A lake very similar to this,

Absorbed all of That carbon dioxide,

And there was a big explosion From the center of the lake.

And an entire village Was decimated.

Narrator: during the night Of august 21st, 1986,

A seismic event triggers The release

Of up to 300,000 tons Of carbon dioxide

Trapped in lake nyos.

A massive, invisible, odorless Cloud of the gas

Erupts from the lake And rolls across the land,

Suffocating 1,700 people And thousands of animals.

**

If the lake is absorbing co2 Like at lake nyos,

A sudden trigger, Something like an earthquake,

Could cause a similarly Catastrophic event

To occur here.

Narrator: yet, when pollock Tests the water,

It reveals relatively low levels Of carbon dioxide.

**

He heads off in search Of further signs

Of volcanic activity.

Since there was no sign of any Down near the tree-kill area,

I decided to hike up Further onto the mountain.

Narrator: on the higher slopes, He spots a fumarole,

A volcanic opening In the earth's crust.

You can see the gases

Coming up from within there, Right over there.

And even from this distance, I can already smell the sulfur,

So it must be pretty strong.

**

This is about as close As I want to get.

The temperature that vent Is probably at least

200 or 300 degrees fahrenheit.

Narrator: yet, the presence Of sulfurous gases here

Confuses pollock.

Pollock: It's kind of weird to me

That they're coming out Of the fumarole here,

But that I didn't see Any evidence for them down below

Where the trees Were being killed off.

Narrator: it's as if This sleeping supervolcano

Is slowly waking up,

And pollock wonders What might be causing it.

Knowing the seismic history Of the area,

This place has a history Of earthquake swarms.

Narrator: An earthquake swarm is a rapid Succession of seismic shocks.

One such swarm hits the mountain In 1989,

The year the forest Starts dying.

Pollock: so that suggests to me That those earthquakes opened up

Pathways to the surface, Bringing massive amounts of co2

That ultimately killed off Those trees.

Narrator: The growing number of dead trees Here could suggest gas pressure

In the 240-cubic-mile Magma chamber is increasing.

The nightmare scenario Is that future swarms

May trigger the release Of massive clouds of gas

Down onto the highly populated Areas below.

With each earthquake That happens here,

Another vent opens up for more Of these gases to escape.

Because it's so dense, It flows downhill,

Potentially suffocating Any humans or life

Within its path.

**

Narrator: yet, the satellite Image and seismic data

Point to an even more Troubling scenario.

Increasing emissions of volcanic Gases and earthquakes swarms

Are warnings Of volcanic eruptions.

And if the supervolcano Hidden under these mountains

Goes off, it would make The most violent eruptions

In recent times Look like child's play.

Dull: when we see A sudden die-off of trees,

It tells us that something Is definitely wrong,

And it's probably related To the magma chamber below.

Narrator: The growing patch of dead trees

Could be the first indication That the fiery giant hidden

Under the sierra nevada Mountains is slowly awakening.

It's not a matter of if

But when something may happen To the volcano.

**

Narrator: coming up --

The mystery of The serpent of the sands...

Hunt: it's clearly A serpent-like feature.

There's nothing else It can resemble.

Narrator: ...And the strange blob

That's messing with spacecraft.

Brensberger: this phenomenon Is actually moving,

And we don't exactly know why.

**

**

Narrator: January 24th, 2017.

An orbiting camera passing Over the desert sands

Of mauritania, west africa, Captures this image.

This is a really remote area, But there's this snake.

We are in one of the most Inhospitable places on earth.

So what is this Giant snake-like thing?

That's a mystery We got to explore.

Narrator: Local geological records Offer a possible clue

To the origin Of the slick serpentine streak.

There's one substance That's dark, black,

And found in abundance In west africa.

Could we be seeing an oil spill?

Narrator: the sahara holds Large oil reserves.

Pipes carrying thousands Of barrels of oil a day

Crisscross its sands.

There are no official records Of any leaks

On the day the image was taken.

But there is another Possible explanation.

There's stories of oil pipelines Being broken, tapped into.

Could this be Some illegal operation

That we don't know about?

Certainly it's not unheard of.

There are instances All the time.

Narrator: oil theft is rampant Across africa.

In the nearby niger delta, Highly organized gangs

Bribe pipeline operators To tap and siphon off

Up to 10% of all oil production.

This way, they steal more than $1 billion of oil a month.

Some places, 2,500 gallons A night, employing 400 people.

They even build refineries Out in the middle of nowhere

That illegally take the oil And process it into diesel fuel.

This is big business.

Narrator: the gangs often Process the crude oil

By heating it with naked flames In huge pits

Before condensing it.

In october 2018,

A blaze caused by This so-called oil bunkering

Kills 200 people In south nigeria.

Countless more deaths Go unreported.

And the toxic runoff Devastates the landscape.

This oil can easily Spill into rivers and creeks.

From above, one of these oil Spills might look pretty much

Exactly like what we're seeing In this image.

Narrator: analysts look closer At the image

For signs of oil piracy.

If that's what's going on here, You would expect to see

Some sort of infrastructure -- Roadways or buildings

Or even the pipelines Themselves.

There's nothing.

Narrator: archaeologists have A different theory.

This snake figure actually Reminds me

Of something I've seen before.

Hunt: in ohio is the world's Largest serpent-like feature.

It's 1,300 feet long, 3-foot high,

And it just winds all the way

Along the landscape At brush creek.

Narrator: thought to date back Around 2,000 years,

The exact purpose of ohio's Great serpent mound is unclear.

Graves found nearby suggest It could have fulfilled

A spiritual function.

And it's just one of Many serpentine effigies

Constructed by civilizations Throughout history.

The reverence given to snakes Through human history

Is actually astonishing.

The serpent is a symbol that Has a great deal of resonance

Across many, many Worldwide cultures.

Is this another example of That kind of ritual structure?

Narrator: around the world,

Snakes have been variously Worshipped as gods of evil,

Death, and as phallic Or solar deities.

There's something really deep And important going on here

In the human association Of meaning and the snake.

Narrator: historical records Confirm snake worship

Is prevalent in west africa.

Hunt: you can hardly encounter A tribe in africa

Whose ethnography and lore Does not involve

Some kind of snake mythology.

Narrator: mystical reverence Of the snake in africa

Dates back 70,000 years,

Tens of thousands of years Before the dawn of civilization.

In parts of africa As late as the 18th century,

Those found guilty of killing A snake were sentenced to death.

Today, some societies Worship them

As part of the ancient religion Vodun,

Forerunner to the voodoo Practiced today

In haiti and louisiana.

People across africa Carry legends

Of the world having been formed From a snake,

And the snake is associated With the image of a rainbow

That sometimes spreads Across the heavens.

Narrator: analysts consider what African desert civilization

Could account for Such a symbol in the sands.

I'm immediately struck How it looks almost identical

To an egyptian hieroglyph.

Narrator: In egyptian magic,

Set, the god of chaos,

Is sometimes represented By a serpent.

He is also The god of the desert.

Egypt has snake effigies.

Why should there not be one In the sahara?

Narrator: Historical records show that

Egyptians arrive in mauritania Around 600 b.C.

One theory is that they leave An indelible mark

In the shape of this enormous Tribute to a serpent god.

Seeing this snake-like Ground feature

Reminds me of The egyptian pantheon of gods.

It's clearly A serpent-like feature.

There's nothing else It can resemble.

Narrator: a legacy of An ancient civilization,

Or a freak natural feature In the sands?

For now, the origin Of the serpent of the sahara

Remains a mystery.

**

Coming up -- The terror from outer space...

We would look just like mars --

No water, Completely desolate.

Narrator: ...Then history's Weirdest funeral parlor.

Birds would come And pick away at the flesh

And just leave The dry bones exposed.

**

**

Narrator: hundreds of miles Up in the atmosphere,

Nasa satellites' infrared Cameras scan our planet

For heat anomalies,

Like wildfires or volcanoes.

But on july 14th, 2017,

The suomi npp Passing over the atlantic ocean

Finds something highly unusual.

Pepper: my first thoughts are, "Is it real?

Is this some sort of figment Of imagery

That's in the camera On the satellite?"

This is a perfectly circular Red dot

In the middle of the ocean.

It doesn't make sense.

Narrator: data checks confirm This is no error.

Major: This is an infrared image,

So these have to be Sources of heat.

But what's strange is that There's one out in the middle

Of the atlantic ocean.

Narrator: 1,000 miles from land In cold ocean,

Something appears to be burning.

**

Patel: the location of This anomaly is actually on

A pretty popular shipping route Between africa

And south america.

So this could potentially be A fire on a ship.

Narrator: maritime records Confirm numerous container ships

Do catch fire every year.

But a burning vessel Can't explain the weird image.

There is no evidence that This is a ship that caught fire.

There's no s.O.S. Call.

So there must be something else

That's causing This thermal anomaly.

Narrator: the mystery deepens When reports emerge

That craft orbiting near The red dot

Display bizarre Electrical malfunctions.

Phoenix: Astronauts who have been on

The international space station

Have reported that Their laptops have been fried

While passing over this area.

And some have even said That they've witnessed

Kind of strange imagery, Like shooting stars

Or unexplained light.

Narrator: satellites, too, As they pass over the red dot

Suffer damage to their systems,

Sending them hurtling Out of control.

This area is sometimes called The bermuda triangle of space

Because of the effects that We see on manmade instruments

When they pass over this area.

Maybe this red dot actually Comes from something

That might be in the atmosphere.

Narrator: atmospheric studies Above the anomaly

Reveal something disturbing.

What we're seeing happening is Energetically charged particles

Coming closer to the earth.

About 120 miles Above the surface,

There is essentially A radiation hotspot.

Narrator: normally, earth is Shielded from deadly cosmic rays

By a force field Generated by our planet's

Spinning iron-and-nickel core.

Lucky for us earthlings,

We are shaded By this magnetic field

That not only blocks That radiation

But literally funnels it Into the poles.

We owe our lives To the earth's magnetic field.

There is a tremendous amount Of radiation in outer space,

And that magnetic field protects Us from this cosmic radiation.

Narrator: the satellite image Indicates the force field

Is failing above The south atlantic.

Here, radioactive space rays Pummel orbiting craft.

More cosmic rays are able To get lower and lower

Into the atmosphere Than they would otherwise be.

The intense radiation that is Associated with cosmic rays

Can overload the instrument

So that it detects it as a flare Or as a blast of light.

And that's what we're seeing On this particular image.

Narrator: so far, scientists Have been unable to explain

What's cracking The earth's defensive shield.

But what they have established

Is that the hole is spreading, Fast.

Brensberger: Researchers are measuring,

And this phenomenon is actually Moving northward and westward,

And we don't exactly know why.

Narrator: as we become more And more reliant on satellites

In our daily lives,

The future effects of this hole Could be catastrophic.

If this happens somewhere Major and metropolitan,

Like washington, d.C.,

It's going to cause Major problems

For how we communicate, How we navigate.

Today, we are very reliant On satellite technology

To provide us with location Information and cellphones,

And basically all of the things We do on a daily basis

Depend on electronics.

So the effect is really kind of Uncharted territory for us.

Narrator: as our magnetic Defenses are breached,

It's not just our communications Systems that will be fried.

Phoenix: We're going to see the space Station becoming uninhabitable

And higher incidences of cancers All around the world.

Pepper: the real fear is that If our magnetic field went away,

Because it not only shields us From these solar rays

But it also protects Our atmosphere

From being literally Stripped away,

If that happened, We would look just like mars --

No water, Completely desolate.

**

Narrator: coming up -- The mob moves to swampland...

Al capone did own an illicit

Dancing-and-drinking Establishment in the everglades.

Narrator: ...And the nazis up to no good.

There's the very real Possibility that this is

An example of construction During the third reich.

**

**

Narrator: October 30th, 2017.

Eyes in the sky Over the florida everglades

Spy something down below.

It's this completely Remote area,

But there are perfect squares In weird, random spots.

It almost looks like somebody

Cut out pieces Of the everglades.

Narrator: much of this 1 1/2 million acres

Subtropical swampland Is inaccessible

And uninhabitable.

Perhaps the shapes' Remoteness is a clue.

Patel: it's not anywhere that People will regularly visit,

So it could be a good place To hide something.

Ruben: the squares kind of look A little bit like

The foundations of buildings That once were there.

Chamberlain: building in a swamp Is extremely difficult.

This would have to be someone Who was really motivated

By being undiscovered.

Narrator: one potential Candidate stands out.

Al capone did own an illicit

Dancing-and-drinking Establishment

In the everglades.

It makes sense that maybe He would have a neighboring site

To produce the goods He was trying to sell.

[ car horns honking ]

Narrator: al capone's Bootlegging empire

Was built on prohibition.

For decades, america's Female-dominated

Evangelical temperance movement Campaigned against alcohol.

And in the 18th amendment, Their sober views became law.

The amendment actually Didn't stop it from being made.

It just turned it into A giant underground industry

For any would-be gangster.

[ gunfire ]

[ people talking indistinctly ]

Narrator: when al capone, Or "Scarface,"

Becomes mafia boss Of the so-called chicago outfit,

He builds its bootlegging Operation into a huge business,

Netting him $60 million a year.

Ruben: in his famous line That he would always say is,

"I'm just a business man

Giving the people What they want."

Narrator: despite having 60% Of cops on his payroll,

In 1928, capone is declared Public enemy number one.

He escapes chicago for a Secluded mansion on miami beach,

And, according to locals, He starts up

A bootlegging operation In the everglades.

If you're gonna manufacture Illegal alcohol,

You better put it someplace No one's ever gonna look.

And the middle of the everglades Is a perfect spot.

Narrator: but other analysts Think the isolated shapes

Have a different origin.

When I see these squares,

They almost look like Fenced-off pens.

Trophy hunters come From all over the world

To bag alligators.

Sometimes hunters Will fence off areas

To make sure that there are Animals to be hunted.

Narrator: a vast population Of 200,000 gators

Live in these swamps.

In florida, Alligators are ubiquitous.

You will see them everywhere.

You'll see them on the roadside.

You'll see them congregating In the marshes.

Narrator: every year, The florida wildlife commission

Grants licenses to keep The population under control

And to deal with dangerous Rogue gators.

Alligators can be a particularly Difficult animal to hunt.

A lot of times, They're underwater,

So we can't see them that well.

Also, they have Really amazing senses,

So they can even pick up on Vibrations of footsteps.

Narrator: there is a method Of animal slaughter

Known as canned hunting,

Whereby animals are ushered Into a pen or sealed area,

Which makes them easy prey.

Essentially, it's like Shooting fish in a barrel.

Chamberlain: oftentimes, Something is done to the animal

So it's not quite equal footing.

Maybe they're given A tranquilizer.

It's really not a fair fight.

You're not hunting animals Out in the wild, per se.

Narrator: yet, scale analysis Indicates these shapes

Are 900 feet across.

Patel: These squares are massive.

This area just seems too big For a canned hunt.

Narrator: Close analysis of coloration

Around the shapes Provides more clues.

The muted brown colors in them

Almost remind me of burning.

Most people wouldn't think of Wildfire in the everglades,

But I think this could be Controlled burns.

Narrator: scientists are Fighting an invasion,

Not of gators or gangsters,

But of grass.

One of the problems With the everglades

Is this invasive species.

And best way To get rid of invasive species

Is to burn down That part of the everglades.

Narrator: florida Water-management records reveal

A particularly destructive weed

Spreading like a plague Through the everglades.

One of the species that's really Prevalent is the cattail.

It's a long, narrow plant

That kind of chokes off Some of the other vegetation

That is in the area.

Narrator: Scientists are waging war

Against this one Super-strong species of grass.

And, in desperation, They've turned rambo.

Well, they will go out In helicopters.

And then they'll go out On boats,

And they'll light it on fire

And let it burn.

Narrator: in a combined aerial And ground-based assault,

Teams of scientists blanket The swamp with herbicide

And with fire.

Helicopters, flame throwers -- These scientists are

Declaring war On these invasive species.

**

The strategy, to some people, Might seem,

Well, we're causing more damage.

But what we are seeing Is regrowth

Of some of the native vegetation Back into those areas.

Dennie: cattails are Extremely flammable.

It burns very quickly.

And many of the hardwood Materials are left behind,

And they flourish Once the fires pass through.

Narrator: the legacy of this Strange form of swamp warfare

Is visible from space.

This is a game of Man versus the cattail.

Hopefully man will win.

[ helicopter blades whirring ]

**

Narrator: coming up --

The lost civilization Of the seas.

And is this All that's left of them?

**

**

Narrator: June 22nd, 2017.

An orbiting camera passing Over the german coast

Captures this shape In the north sea.

Kourounis: this is unlike any Island I've ever seen before.

It's shaped a bit like A horseshoe crab.

Bellinger: it looks almost Die-cast or stamped,

Like the ridges around the top Of a bottle cap.

Horton: the fact that it's Obviously so close to sea level

Makes one think that either It's being submerged by the sea

Or has emerged from the sea.

Narrator: For archeologists,

The structure's shape and Coastal position offer clues.

A few years ago, The rather curious monument

Was actually found Off the north coast,

And it looked very similar To this.

Narrator: the so-called 4,000-year-old sea henge

Emerges from a beach In norfolk, england, in 1998.

Consisting of 55 oak trunks Scarred with axe markings,

Excavations suggest It once played host

To macabre Ancient death rituals.

This might be Part of the process

Of what's called excarnation...

[ birds cawing ]

...Which is to expose The dead body to the air,

And the birds would come And pick away at the flesh

And just leave The dry bones exposed.

Is it possible that This central platform

Was also employed For excarnation?

Narrator: if this is A similarly ancient monument,

Discoveries on the seabed Near here

Could explain who built it.

Fishermen back in The 19th century were

Trawling up crazy things --

Antler points And fishing spears.

Horton: These trawlers have dredged up A whole series of stone tools,

So we know that people Were living in the area,

Even though It's now below sea level.

[ thunder crashes ]

Narrator: A seismic scan of the seabed Around the mystery structure

Confirms that 12,000 years ago,

It was a vast, fertile, 18,000-square-mile plane...

...A drowned world Known as doggerland,

Once the home of tribes And stone-age beasts.

[ beast roars ]

We have these fabulous myths Of drowned civilizations

Across cultures And throughout time.

And, of course, Atlantis comes to mind.

But in the case Of this submerged land mass,

The reality is more fascinating Than fiction.

Paul: did these mesolithic People of doggerland

Make this circle?

And is this All that's left of them?

Narrator: yet, military Historian martin morgan

Thinks the structure Has a more modern origin.

My first instinct is that This is a military structure

Because I'm used to seeing Military architecture

On coastal areas On small islands like this.

Narrator: for morgan, there is Only one likely candidate.

There's the very real Possibility that this is

An example of construction During the third reich --

Nazi germany.

The germans would construct Massive

Anti-ship seacoast Defense batteries.

Perhaps this is one of those.

Narrator: the island is off A stretch of coast

Once heavily defended by A giant wall built by the nazis,

The 2,000-mile atlantic wall.

It stretches up And includes this area

Because the germans Were concerned that the allies

Would conduct an amphibious Landing in northern europe.

Narrator: 260,000 people Construct the atlantic wall

Using 1.2 million tons of steel,

17 million cubic feet Of concrete --

The equivalent of 15 dodger stadiums.

This falls right sort of In the middle of all of that.

And so it would make sense that This was a fighting position

Of the so-called atlantic wall.

Narrator: scientist kelsey ellis Believes the structure

In the image Is indeed manmade,

But it has been built to fight A different kind of battle.

I've seen something Like this before.

It reminds me of an island That was artificial

And has a similar Circular structure.

Narrator: The north sea is considered Among the most dangerous seas

In the world, And not just to ships.

When I see this Artificial island in an area

That's threatened by rough seas, It makes me feel like

It was put there To prevent coastal erosion.

Narrator: Studies suggest over 12,000 Miles of european coastline

Are at severe risk of erosion.

We have reports That some of the waves

That we've seen in the north sea Can be over nine stories tall.

Well, if you have A nine-story-tall wave

Hitting into something,

There is gonna be damage done To that something.

Narrator: The germans, it seems, are now Fighting a war against the sea

And building strange structures To do it.

The key to the artificial island Is the circular feature

That you see in the image.

It's keeping the whole island In place

And keeping sand From being washed away,

While also collecting sand From the tides.

What's great about this is that We can use this technique

In other places where islands Are at risk to coastal erosion.

Narrator: In america in 2005 and 2012,

Hurricanes destroy almost 1 1/2 million homes

And claim nearly 2,000 lives.

Artificial islands like this one Could be a solution.

Whether they're in the north sea

Or along the coast Of north america,

Is that they act As a protector layer.

Islands such as these not Only save millions of dollars

But also help protect people And save lives.

**