Bare Earth

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what we can learn from a really, really big picture. From tracking receding glaciers critical to life as we know it, to discovering evidence of ancient life hidden deep within the caves of British Columbia, teams of scientists use a plane outfitted with visual imaging technology that can strip away landscape layers to uncover what lies beneath. Join us as we set out to see what the bare-earth landscapes of our coast will reveal when seen from above—way, way above—in our newest series, Bare Earth.

Produced by Katrina Pyne and Meigan Henry
Edited by Katrina Pyne
Narrated by Katrina Pyne
Videography by Grant Callegari, Katrina Pyne, and Bennett Whitnell
Additional videography by Storyblocks, Keith Holmes, Nick Viner, and Brian Menounos
Motion graphics by Nick Viner and Mike Tilston

Mapping the Frozen Lifeline

British Columbia’s snow- and ice-covered mountains contain life-giving water for the people and creatures living below. But with climate change bringing rising temperatures, we may not be able to count on this frozen reservoir for much longer. Experts go up mountain peaks and into thin air with new technology to map the snow and ice before the taps run dry.

Teacher cheat sheet of what’s included in this episode of Bare Earth:
– Glaciers, ice depth, glacial retreat, snowmelt, water cycles, changing landscapes
– Snowpack, measuring it, snow core
– Water reservoirs, water supply shortages
– Satellite imagery, mapping, drones
– Airborne Coastal Observatory, LiDAR
– Klinaklini Glacier, Mount Arrowsmith

Protecting Our Underwater Kelp Forests

Underwater kelp forests are some of the most productive habitats on earth, havens for biodiversity, protectors of shorelines, and carbon sinks. But with climate change bringing rising sea temperatures, these vulnerable forests are in danger of being lost. Researchers are diving deep and taking to the skies to map these critical, life-giving underwater ocean forests.

Teacher cheat sheet of what’s included in this episode of Bare Earth:
– Kelp forests: 3D habitat, biodiversity, ocean nursery, carbon sink, coastal protection
– Climate change and its effect on coastal oceans and kelp forests, ripple effects on the ecosystem
– The Blob: warming ocean waters
– Urchins and their effects on kelp forests, sea otters and sea stars
– The connections between everything living in an ecosystem
– Kelp mapping: drones, satellite images
– Measuring kelp forest mass and density
– Airborne Coastal Observatory, LiDAR
– Underwater surveys, diving

Searching for Caves from the Sky

Finding a needle in a haystack just got easier for a team of archaeologists on the hunt for evidence of ancient life on the British Columbia coast. Buried under trees and millennia of debris, caves can be next to impossible to find. But as natural shelters for both animals and humans, they offer us a unique window into the past. Now, with the help of some high-flying tech, this team of archaeologists can strip the landscape bare to home in on these hidden time capsules and uncover the secrets they hold.

Teacher cheat sheet of what’s included in this episode of Bare Earth:
– Caves, cave archaeology, karst, sinkholes, limestone
– Landscape changes over time: sea levels, erosion, debris buildup
– Bare Earth models of the landscape
– Archaeology, excavation, animal bones, stone tools, dating artifacts
– Ancient environments, ancient humans, First Nations
– Airborne Coastal Observatory, LiDAR

When a Landslide Triggers a Tsunami

Every so often in nature, a catastrophe occurs that then leads to another and another, which is just what happened when a landslide in the mountains of British Columbia led to an outburst flood that then led to an underwater avalanche in the ocean far below. A team of researchers in British Columbia are worried we might see more of these hazards cascades in the future as climate change advances, so they are using a toolbox of tech to search the wreckage of the Elliot Creek hazards cascade to unearth new clues about what caused this catastrophic series of events and how often they might occur in the future.

Teacher cheat sheet of what’s included in this episode of Bare Earth:
– Hazards cascade: landslide, tsunami, glacial lake outburst flood, underwater avalanche, avalanche flood
– Landscape changes over time, animal adaptations to these changes
– Climate change and its effect on the frequency of major landscape events
– Mapping catastrophic environmental events, bathymetry, developing warning systems
– Airborne Coastal Observatory, LiDAR
– Elliot Creek

Saving the Fraser River Salmon Migration

The Fraser River in British Columbia is host to one of the most important salmon runs in the world, where millions of salmon famously come each year to spawn. But this run has narrow margins, literally, as just one major landslide in the wrong place threatens to block the river and wipe out the entire Fraser salmon migration. Fortunately, First Nations community leaders along the Fraser have together with a group of researchers spent the last two years studying the Fraser in immense detail with the help of some high-flying tech to make sure we always have a plan in place when disaster strikes.

Teacher cheat sheet of what’s included in this episode of Bare Earth:
– The Fraser River
– First Nations: communities along the Fraser River and their relationship to the river and salmon, Indigenous knowledge
– Salmon: migration, spawning, life cycle, their contribution to the river and nearby forest ecosystems, the effects of landslides on salmon (including genetic diversity and its impact on salmon resilience)
– Landslides: Hells Gate, Big Bar, river barriers created by landslides, effects of these barriers on salmon populations, predicting future landslides, managing landslides and their impacts
– Climate change, atmospheric river
– Dating the age of rocks, cosmic rays that cause chemical changes in rock
– Airborne Coastal Observatory, LiDAR, mapping, surveying
– Multidisciplinary scientific collaboration, the interconnection of landscapes and ecosystems
– River rafting