All language subtitles for Earth from Space S01E04

Satellite cameras can now look down
on every part of our planet...

revolutionising the view of our home.

By combining images taken over days...

weeks...

and years...

we can see Planet Earth change.

From space, we can watch cities grow...

Earth's natural resources shrink...

and the weather become more extreme.

As we alter the surface
of the planet...

faster than at any time
in human history...

this new perspective allows us
to track the speed of this change...

to see the impact of our actions...

and inspire us
to look after our fragile home.

Humans now inhabit
every landmass on the planet.

And the extent of our colonisation
is most obvious at night.

Scientists have combined images

to reveal a detailed view
of the entire globe at night...

our cities and towns...

reaching out across its surface.

Using images taken over years,

we can see just how fast
these cities are growing.

In the last 40 years,

Las Vegas has tripled in size...

its suburbs sprawling
into the Nevada Desert.

Tokyo is now home to 38 million.

More people than any other city
on Earth.

And, in just 35 years...

the small fishing village
of Shenzhen in China...

has grown to a modern city...

of ten million.

It has joined with
nine neighbouring cities,

creating one giant megatropolis...

home to more than 60 million people...

across more than
5,000 square kilometres.

As new land is claimed each day...

nature is being pushed out.

From above...

India's streets are a densely packed
maze of grey concrete.

But zoom in over Chennai,
one of India's largest cities...

and we can see
a flash of bright green.

Wild pa ra keets.

In this ever-sprawling city,
one man has made room for wildlife.

15 years ago, Joseph Sekar
saw a pair of parakeets

struggling to find food
in the city streets.

He put out rice for the birds.

Others came,

so each day he put out even more.

Every day, he and his granddaughters

turn his rooftop
into a giant bird table...

awaiting the arrival...

of 4,000 birds.

Joseph spends nearly 50% of his income
on feeding the parakeets.

They come twice a day, without fail.

Joseph has not only given
a lifeline to these birds

when they needed it most...

he has brought a little bit of nature
back into the city streets.

In a world where nature
is being pushed out...

“Joseph is supporting
a whole population of animals...

showing that one person in five million

can make a huge difference.

As the planet's urban landscapes
grow by the day...

its most important wild spaces
are shrinking.

In South America,
trees are cleared for farming.

In the Amazon, small patches of green,
protected by local tribes...

are all that remain
of a once-great forest.

And on the island of Madagascar,

images taken over 3O years...

show it has lost almost 80%
of its original forest.

With so few trees left
to hold the soil in place,

the red earth now runs into the rivers
and out into the ocean.

It looks like Madagascar is bleeding.

The islands of Indonesia.

An area of thick rainforest...

home to thousands
of plant and animal species.

But the view from space
shows it disappear.

All over Indonesia,
swathes of forest are vanishing.

And it's having a devastating impact
on one species in particular.

This young Sumatran orangutan

lives with her mother
in the forest canopy.

At nearly three years old,

she's still learning what's safe to eat
and what isn't.

There are over 300 different types
of edible plants in the forest...

but each fruit at different times.

Finding food here isn't easy.

She must rely on
her mother's expert knowledge.

The pair can travel for up to
three kilometres a day foraging for food.

Her mother knows the location
of each and every tree in her territory.

Durian fruit, full of fats and vitamins,
are a favourite.

Their smell tells her
if they're ready to eat.

Every day is a lesson.

It will be three more years

before this young female
has learned enough to go it alone.

But with orangutan habitat under threat,

finding enough food
is becoming more difficult.

She may not survive that long.

This forest is home to the highest
concentration of orangutans on the planet.

But as the satellite
moves across the landscape...

the forest disappears.

The last patches
of the orangutans' habitat...

are surrounded by ordered fields.

Row after row...

of palm oil trees.

Nuts from the trees are made into oil

that's found in about half of all
the products on our supermarket shelves.

From toothpaste to biscuits...

lipstick to soap.

In the last 20 years,

orangutans have lost 80%
of their forest home.

The scale and speed
of deforestation here

makes it almost impossible to control.

But now satellites can help.

They can monitor tree loss in real time...

revolutionising the fight
against illegal activity...

allowing authorities to keep watch
on remote forests...

and respond to protect them faster.

It's not only forests
the humans are exploiting.

We've found ways to use natural resources
across the planet.

A mine fans out in Germany...

producing 30 million tonnes
of brown coal a year

to fuel electric power stations.

In Chile, islands of blue

appear in a vast salt flat.

These evaporation ponds
concentrate lithium -

to be made into batteries
for our mobile phones.

In the deserts of Saudi Arabia,

circles appear in the sand.

Water pumped from one kilometre
below the Earth's surface

is used to feed crops.

And as we use Earth's natural resources
to fuel our industries...

we leave our rubbish behind.

Thousands of old aircraft
litter the Arizona desert.

Hundreds of ships
line the coast of Bangladesh...

waiting to be dismantled.

And in Kuwait, a black patchwork
in the sand.

Millions of used car tyres
left discarded.

The waste products
of almost everything we make...

".8 re gases.

They rise into the atmosphere,

where they become trapped,

and absorb heat from the Earth below,

making the planet hotter.

In the last hundred years,

our planet has warmed
by almost one degree Celsius...

enough to dramatically affect
some of our greatest natural landscapes.

Glaciers.

Huge bodies of ice.

In Alaska, Bear Glacier runs for
20 kilometres down the valley...

before it breaks up
where it meets the water.

In real time, glaciers can move so slowly

they almost appear static.

But by combining satellite images
taken over yea rs,

we can see the ice retreating.

Over 30 years...

12 miles of ice is lost
from Alaska's Columbia Glacier.

Mountain glaciers
are also under threat.

In the centre of Ecuador,
South America, lies Chimborazo.

At more than 6,000 metres,
it is the country's highest mountain.

For millennia, its peak has been
covered in snow and ice.

But in the past three decades,

the view from space has started to change.

Chimborazo is losing its ice.

One man living in its foothills
knows this only too well.

Balthazar is an ice harvester.

For generations, his family have collected
glacial ice from the mountain

to sell to the towns and villages below.

He used to be one of 40 working here.

Now he's the very last one.

As the glacier melts,

he's had to climb higher and higher
to find the ice.

On the top of the mountain,

scientists use drones
to monitor the change in the depth of ice

to calculate just how fast
Chimborazo's glaciers are retreating.

But a drone can only go so high.

Combining these images
with satellite data...

reveals the whole picture.

Since 1976,

21% of Chimborazo's surface ice
has gone.

Glaciers act as
the world's water towers...

feeding the streams
and rivers which we rely on.

If they dry UP.

The effect could be severe.

For Balthazar, this could be the end
of the only way of life he's ever known.

In the old days,

he delivered ice to towns
all over the region.

But now he supplies
just a handful of local cafes...

who, like him, believe that his ice
is the best money can buy.

As the Earth's climate changes,
our weather becomes more unpredictable.

Extremes of hot and cold

are contributing
to dramatic weather events.

In Africa...

snow falls...

in the Sahara Desert.

In 2018, an unusually hot summer...

turned the UK brown.

While in Bolivia,
Lake Poopé has all but disappeared,

partly due to severe drought.

As global temperatures rise,

water on the Earth's surface
evaporates faster...

creating more clouds...

and more storms.

Look down over the ocean...

and the clouds shift into shape.

They begin to spiral...

and race...

picking up energy
as they spin across the ocean.

Hurricanes.

On average, one hurricane hits the Gulf
Coast of the United States every yea r.

But beach-side property
is still highly sought after.

And not just by holiday-makers.

The beach mouse makes its home here.

These dunes have been hit by
four hurricanes in the last 25 years.

Just a few miles down the coast,

an entire beach mouse population
was wiped out...

and had to be reintroduced.

At three weeks old, every young mouse
must leave the family nest...

and establish their own territory.

Starting with a burrow.

There's little vegetation,

barely any cover.

A bolthole is essential.

Like all real estate on this coastline,

burrows are hot property.

It might take several days
to find a place of his own.

Every moment spent out here alone,

he's vulnerable.

And not just to predators.

Over the dunes,
the skies are getting darker.

Clouds are building.

While cameras on the dunes
follow the weather as it changes...

at the same time

a satellite positioned
out over the Gulf...

allows us to see what a mouse can't.

800 kilometres away from the dunes,

a hurricane has formed.

Like all major storms,
it's given a name.

Harvey.

300 kilometres across...

and with winds of
over 100 miles per hour,

it's predicted that Harvey
will make land in just eight hours.

To tell where it will hit,

we can track its movement from satellite.

As it reaches the coast,
it spins away from the dunes.

The beach mice are safe.

But where Harvey makes landfall...

images reveal the aftermath
of devastating flooding...

caused by
over 120 centimetres of rain.

Harvey was the most powerful storm
to hit the US in 12 years.

And the wettest in American history.

But Harvey was just the beginning.

Next came Irma,

JOSQ

and Katia...

in one of the worst hurricane seasons
on record.

It's predicted that
an ever-warming planet

will produce more powerful storms.

But with satellites
mapping the path of hurricanes,

they can help us to prepare
for when they hit.

It's not only hurricanes
that are increasing.

Another weather event leaves
indelible marks on our planet.

California. 2018.

A huge burn mark covering
more than 1,400 square kilometres.

These scars are found across America
every summer.

And the view from space

gives us a brand-new perspective
on one of their causes.

Look down on the planet at night...

and the globe crackles and sparks...

each bright spot a strike of lightning.

Our world is struck
up to 5O times every second.

As the energy of each strike
hits the Earth's surface...

they create deadly sparks.

In North America,
more than 10,000 wildfires a year

are caused by lightning.

This number is increasing
as the climate changes,

so these fires must be monitored.

Usually I get up
at about six o'clock in the morning.

I get up, have a cup of coffee...

and then I'm ready to go.

Every day of each summer,

85-year-old Billy Ellis
climbs the 143 steps to his office.

I get to the radio about 9.25.

Hello, Dispatch,
this is Devil's Head Tower, in service.

I'm a fire lookout, and I've been
doing it now for 33 summers.

After a long hot summer,
the forest is tinder dry.

Perfect conditions for a fire.

I look... About every 15 minutes,
I take a look around.

You can look for days
and never see anything.

Then, all of a sudden, there it is.

Hello, Dispatch, this is
Devil's Head Tower. We have a smoke.

Within minutes, a smoke plume
can stretch across the horizon.

Now the most effective way to track it...

is from space.

Cameras can follow a fire's path
in almost real time...

observing the smoke to predict
its direction, size and speed...

guiding those fighting it
to the heart of the blaze.

Using satellite positioning,

smoke jumpers can be on the ground
within seven minutes of a call.

Wildfire can burn
at 1,200 degrees Celsius.

To stop it, they create breaks
in the forest...

taking away its fuel.

As human actions
continue to warm the planet...

more wildfires
tear across the Earth's surface.

In 2018, California had one of the worst
wildfire seasons in history.

Satellites followed as more than
5,000 fires raged across the state...

including the Mendocino Complex Fire...

one of California's
la rgest-ever wildfires.

But even in the most devastated
landscapes...

lies opportunity.

Billy isn't the only lookout
in the forest.

This wood-boring beetle
is also searching for smoke.

Special sensors in his body detect it
from many kilometres away.

This blackened branch is weaker -

easier to bore into and feed on.

And where insects go...

birds follow.

A black-backed woodpecker.

Perfectly camouflaged
in burned forests.

Beetle grubs are full of fat.

Food for hungry chicks.

Within six months of the fire,

the woodpecker holes have new residents.

And new trees take root.

Infrared satellite images of this forest
show it turn from brown...

to green...

in just three years.

Wildfire is essential
for healthy forest habitat.

It has regenerated the trees

and supported the species
that live in them for millennia.

But as we continue to warm our planet,

increasing the size
and severity of these fires,

it becomes our responsibility
to keep them under control.

Cameras in space are a powerful tool
with which to monitor our planet...

revealing landscapes under threat.

But satellites also capture images

in parts of the world where we are trying
to restore the balance.

Just off the east coast of England...

white dots appear in the sea.

One of the world's largest
offshore wind-farms,

generating enough power a year
for half a million homes.

In China, two giant pandas.

Solar panels creating electricity
as a greener alternative to burning coal.

And in Tanzania, Africa...

this land was cleared for farming.

But now the view has changed.

Completely.

Forest has regrown...

a transformation helping
one of our most iconic species.

Gombe Stream National Park.

This is Salama...

and her mother, Schweini.

They're members of
the Kasakela community -

a troop of over 90 chimpanzees...

first studied by primatologist
Jane Goodall back in 1960.

The family have been followed
almost every single day for 58 years.

It's the longest-running study
of any animal on Earth.

Their protected forest
is near the village of Kigalye.

Here, local people cut down trees
to make space for farmland.

But without the trees
holding the earth together,

there were landslides...

and flash floods...

threatening the village,
and their neighbours.

To survive, female chimpanzees

need to mix with other troops,

moving territory to find a mate.

But deforestation isolated the community.

Their forest had become an island.

With both people and chimps suffering,

the jane Goodall Institute
began to work with the village

to replant the trees...

and provide the locals with
sustainable ways to use the land.

Emmanuel Mtiti and Lilian Pintea

have been working on the project
for 18 years.

And they've had a little help...

from satellites.

This is a recent image of the area.

Even the finest details are visible.

So let's go back to this.

By comparing satellite images,

the villagers can see
what a difference they've made.

The forests have been regenerated.

Land that was infertile
has been brought back to life.

The landslides have stopped...

and flash floods
are no longer a problem.

And it's not just the people
who have benefitted.

For the first time in decades...

new chimpanzees have been seen
using the surrounding forests...

to travel into the reserve.

Potential new mates...

and a bright future
for this iconic species.

Here in this small corner
of the planet...

conservationists and local people

have shown just what a difference
can be made

when we work together.

A change so important
and so dramatic...

that it can be seen from space.

This perspective allows us
to see our home in a whole new way.

Satellite cameras now help us
to health-check our planet...

see where it is thriving...

but, crucially, where we
are upsetting its fragile balance.

We can find and follow
our most vulnerable species...

and make new discoveries...

in extraordinary landscapes...

transforming our understanding
of the way Earth works...

and our place within it.

This powerful new tool

helps us protect our unique

and fragile planet.