About Video

‘Atmosphere’ reveals the scientific marvel that is Earth’s unique and complex atmosphere.

In this show we uncover the incredible workings of the invisible blanket of air we live in. Although incredibly thin, the equivalent thickness of a lick of varnish on a model globe, it is the key to everything on planet Earth. Sound, flight, weather and life are all given to us by the air around us, it makes planet Earth what it is.

The story of we came to have such a distinct atmosphere is a remarkable one.

We meet Dr. David Crisp of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab who is one of the main proponents of a groundbreaking scientific theory that dates back to the very earliest days of our solar system. He believes a monumental collision with another planet-sized object blasted the earth’s original atmosphere clean away. Volcanoes and comets restocked our skies with the gases we now flourish in. But one vital gas was still missing – oxygen.

Oxygen’s abundance on earth was once a mystery but in this Naked Science we reveal the answer. Dr. Janet Siefert from Rice University is at the forefront of research that has traced it back to a remarkable plant mutation. She takes us down into the deserts and sparse pools of northern Mexico where a colony of rare microbes survives. Millions of years ago they incredibly shared their ability to photosynthesis with plants, changing earth’s atmosphere and future completely.

Earth’s atmosphere has many other crucial functions apart from providing the air we breathe and Naked Science shows how it does it.

World renowned meteorite hunters Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold demonstrate how they have come to respect the versatility of our atmosphere. It is transparent and flexible yet it also acts as a mighty wall of protection against massive, speeding and potentially terminal space debris. Geoff and Steve uncover the science that makes air into virtual concrete and take us on a hunt for a rare meteorite. They’re rarer than gold but Steve is the right man to be with, he has dug up the largest ever found, earning himself a cool one million dollars.

We find out how out atmosphere carries super highways of water through the sky three times the size of the Mississippi River. They transport vital water around the globe keeping land fertile but they can wreak havoc – dumping massive quantities of flood water. Naked Science goes to action-man NOAA scientist Marty Ralph; he flies directly into these ‘atmospheric rivers’ to solve the mystery of how they work.

But only one man has gone one further than that. Colonel Joseph Kittinger has gone alone, in an open topped hot air balloon to the virtual vacuum and freezing expanse of the upper stratosphere – and then jumped. We re-live the moment Earth’s unique and amazing atmosphere was conquered by one unique and amazing man.