Deadliest Tornadoes
Why was the 2011 tornado season in the U.S. so extreme, and, with advanced warning systems, why did so many die?
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Deadliest Tornadoes
In April 2011, the worst tornado outbreak in decades left a trail of destruction across the U.S., killing more than 360 people. Why was there such an extreme outbreak? How do such outbreaks form? With modern warning systems, why did so many die? Is our weather getting more extreme—and, if so, how bad will it get? In this NOVA special, we meet scientists striving to understand the forces at work behind last year's outbreak. Could their work improve tornado prediction in the future? We also meet people whose lives have been upended by these extreme weather events and learn how we all can protect ourselves and our communities for the future.
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- 52:45
Deadliest Volcanoes
Millions of people around the world live in the shadow of active volcanoes. Under constant threat of massive volcanic eruptions, their homes and their lives are daily at risk from these sleeping giants. From Japan’s Mount Fuji to the "Sleeping Giant" submerged beneath Naples to the Yellowstone "supervolcano" in the United States, we will travel with scientists from around the world who are at work on these sites, attempting to discover how likely these volcanoes are to erupt, when it might happen, and exactly how deadly they could prove to be.
Deadliest Volcanoes
From Japan’s Mt. Fuji to Yellowstone’s buried supervolcano, how can we best prepare for the most lethal eruptions?
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- 53:03
Ice Age Death Trap
In the Rocky Mountains, archeologists uncover a unique fossil site packed with astonishingly well-preserved bones of mammoths, mastodons, and other giant extinct beasts. The discovery opens a highly focused window on the vanished world of the Ice Age in North America.
Ice Age Death Trap
Scientists race to uncover a site in the Rockies packed with fossil mammoths and other extinct ice age beasts.
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Surviving the Tsunami
(Program not available for streaming.) The earthquake that hit the northern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 was recorded at magnitude 9.0—the worst ever recorded in Japan. It generated an unprecedented tsunami, obliterating coastal villages and towns in a matter of minutes. In some areas, the tsunami climbed over 100 feet in height and traveled miles inland. Amazingly, amateur and professional photographers captured it all on video, including remarkable tales of human survival, as ordinary citizens became heroes in a drama they never could have imagined.
Surviving the Tsunami
Gripping personal stories from Japan offer lessons on how to act in the face of a life-threatening disaster.
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- 53:07
Japan's Killer Quake
In its worst crisis since World War II, Japan faces disaster on an epic scale: a death toll likely in the tens of thousands, massive destruction of homes and businesses, shortages of water and power, and the specter of nuclear meltdown. With exclusive footage, NOVA captures the unfolding human drama and offers a clear-headed investigation of what triggered the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear crisis. Can science and technology ever prevent devastation in the face of overwhelmingly powerful forces of nature?
Japan's Killer Quake
An eyewitness account and investigation of the epic earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis
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- Running Time:
- 10:39
Detecting Earthquakes
On January 12, 2010, as all the world knows, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti. Yet fewer realize that just two years earlier, the quake had been forecast with amazing accuracy. In exclusive coverage, NOVA scienceNOW accompanies a team of U.S. geologists into Haiti after the tragedy, trying to determine if more quakes are coming. The film team then heads to California, where scientists are uncovering hints of massive destruction yet to come.
Detecting Earthquakes
Can we predict earthquakes? NOVA scienceNOW visits Haiti and California in search of answers.
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Deadliest Earthquakes
In 2010, several epic earthquakes delivered one of the worst annual death tolls ever recorded. The deadliest strike, in Haiti, killed more than 200,000 people and reduced homes, hospitals, schools, and the presidential palace to rubble. In exclusive coverage, a NOVA camera crew follows a team of U.S. geologists as they enter Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. The team hunts for crucial evidence that will help them determine exactly what happened deep underground and what the risks are of a new killer quake. Barely a month after the Haiti quake, Chile was struck by a quake 100 times more powerful, unleashing a tsunami that put the entire Pacific coast on high alert. In a coastal town devastated by the rushing wave, NOVA follows a team of geologists as they battle aftershocks to measure the displacement caused by the earthquake. Could their work, and the work of geologists at earthquake hot spots around the U.S., one day lead to a breakthrough in predicting quakes before they happen? NOVA investigates compelling new leads in this profound scientific conundrum.
Deadliest Earthquakes
Big quakes are inevitable, but can we lessen their devastation?
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Secrets Beneath the Ice
Almost three miles of ice buries most of Antarctica, cloaking a continent half again as large as the United States. But when an Antarctic ice shelf the size of Manhattan collapsed in less than a month in 2002, it shocked scientists and raised the alarming possibility that Antarctica may be headed for a meltdown. Even a 10 percent loss of Antarctica's ice would cause catastrophic flooding of coastal cities unlike any seen before in human history. What are the chances of a widespread melt? "Secrets Beneath the Ice" explores whether Antarctica's climate past can offer clues to what may happen. NOVA follows a state-of-the-art expedition that is drilling three-quarters of a mile into the Antarctic seafloor. The drill is recovering rock cores that reveal intimate details of climate and fauna from a time in the distant past when the Earth was just a few degrees warmer than it is today. As researchers grapple with the harshest conditions on the planet, they discover astonishing new clues about Antarctica's past—clues that carry ominous implications for coastal cities around the globe.
Secrets Beneath the Ice
Is Antarctica headed for a catastrophic meltdown? New evidence of ancient climate change may hold clues.
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- Running Time:
- 53:08
Mt St Helens: Back From the Dead
One of the most violent natural disasters of our time, the colossal eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 blasted away an entire mountainside. Over 200 square miles of pristine forest were buried under millions of tons of lava, ash, mud, and avalanche debris. How could life ever return to this barren moonscape? A lone ecologist, Charlie Crisafulli, spent months in the blast zone and was astonished and puzzled by how quickly plants and animals colonized the wasteland. In this program, stunning cinematography and time-lapse photography trace the dramatic story of how Crisafulli witnessed life's return and figured out the puzzle. Now another question arises: How soon could another catastrophic eruption occur?
Mt St Helens: Back From the Dead
Thirty years after the massive eruption, could it happen again?
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- 52:51
Extreme Cave Diving
Follow a fearless team of scientists as they venture into blue holes—underwater caves that formed during the last ice age, when sea level was nearly 400 feet below what it is today. These caves, little-known treasures of the Bahamas, are one of Earth's least explored and most dangerous frontiers. The interdisciplinary team of biologists, climatologists, and anthropologists discover intriguing evidence of the earliest human inhabitants of the islands, find animals seen nowhere else on Earth, and recover a remarkable record of the planet's climate.
Extreme Cave Diving
A team of intrepid scientists journey into one of Earth's most dangerous and beautiful underwater frontiers.
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- Running Time:
- 12:53
Earthquakes in the Midwest
Scientists have a good idea of what causes earthquakes like those that struck Chile or Haiti in 2010, or in places like California. It's all about sudden movement along the edges of the giant crustal plates that make up the Earth's crust. But another kind of quake exists, one that occurs far from plate boundaries. It's big, it's dangerous, and it could strike anytime in the very middle of America.
Earthquakes in the Midwest
Three massive earthquakes struck the American Midwest in 1811-12. Could it happen again?
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- Running Time:
- 10:54
Profile: Sang-Mook Lee
Sang-Mook Lee, a professor of marine geology and geophysics at Seoul National University, is paralyzed from the neck down. But that hasn’t stopped him: He continues to teach and pursue his research on tectonic plates and the formation of the world’s oceans. Outside his academic work, he also has launched a new career teaching others with disabilities and advocating for the rights of disabled people.
Profile: Sang-Mook Lee
A South Korean geophysicist paralyzed from the neck down defies stereotypes of the disabled.
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