This series presents visually spectacular tours of the seven continents as it makes connections between our solar system and Earth's oceans, climate, and mineral and energy sources. It unifies Earth science, astronomy, and comparative planetology into an integrated discipline that relies on common scientific methods. A flexible instructional resource, Planet Earth provides course material for nonscience students and science majors. Produced by WQED/Pittsburgh in association with the National Academy of Sciences. 1986.
1. The Living Machine
Plate tectonics, one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century, is explored at such sites as the erupting Kilauea volcano and the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in the submersible craft Alvin.
2. The Blue Planet
Perhaps the last great unexplored frontier on earth, the oceans reveal major new revelations as detected by scientists aboard the space shuttle and submerged to the depths of the "middle ocean" to view rare life forms.
3. The Climate Puzzle
Scientists piece together an unfolding mystery — what caused the ice ages, how Venus's greenhouse effect may have parallels on earth, and what Antarctica's eerie ice rivers demonstrate.
4. Tales From Other Worlds
Through little-seen footage shot in space and special effects, visit the great failed star of Jupiter, probe the raging volcano of Io, and peer through acid rain clouds to see the surface of Venus for the first time.
5. Gifts From the Earth
By examining the earth's mineral and energy sources, scientists analyze how the theory of plate tectonics has revolutionized the search for earth's treasures that lie hidden in locations such as the Red Sea and Antarctic ice cap.
6. The Solar Sea
Geologists investigate an 800-million-year-old rock record of sun activity in an ancient Australian lake bed, and fabulous ground and satellite photography of the aurora borealis all contribute to an understanding of earth's relationship to the yellow dwarf star we know as the sun.
7. Fate of the Earth
New theories about the global consequences of a "nuclear winter" and an "ultra-violet spring" are revealed in this final episode that explores the role of life in shaping earth and its future.
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