Polar Extremes

Trees are living records of Earth’s climatic past. Play NOVA’s Polar Lab to learn how trees grow by simulating how they respond to different environments.

Following a trail of fossils found in all the wrong places–beech trees in Antarctica, redwoods and hippo-like mammals in the Arctic–NOVA uncovers the bizarre history of the poles, from miles-thick ice sheets to warm polar forests teeming with life.

When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide, an invisible and odorless gas, into the atmosphere. What would happen if carbon emerged from our car tailpipes as a solid?

Paleontologist Kirk Johnson shows a group of high schoolers that plant species in Virginia used to be right at home near the North Pole.

To illustrate how the coastline might look if Earth's climate continues to warm, paleontologist Kirk Johnson and geologist Maureen Raymo search for 3-million-year-old clams in a Virginia quarry miles offshore.

Think you know what the Arctic looked like during the Eocene Epoch? Play NOVA’s Polar Lab to find out: You might be surprised by the plants and animals that used to call it home.

The greenhouse effect keeps Earth warm. Play NOVA's Polar Lab to find out what too much CO2 in our atmosphere may mean for our planet.

Carbon dioxide is an odorless, invisible gas. If we could see that carbon as a solid material on the ground, that might change our perspective on the amount of carbon we emit into the atmosphere. Play NOVA’s Polar Lab to see what effects all that CO2 is having on our planet’s poles.

Jakobshavn is Greenland's biggest glacier. And over the past 20 years, it's receded dramatically. Play NOVA's Polar Lab to learn what's behind that change.

Residents of a small Alaskan island live on the front lines of climate change—and might have to change their way of life because of it.

Over its history, Earth has fluctuated between two climate states: Icehouses, with ice caps at at least one of the poles, and Hothouses, when there is no ice at the poles.

This cave in Canada remains frozen every summer—and it's been frozen since the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago. What can this tell us about Earth's future climate?