CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips will be on top of the bottom of the world next week to report live from Antarctica on CBS THIS MORNING (7:00-9:00 AM) and the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY (6:30-7:00 PM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Phillips is on board a scientific expedition sailing from Argentina to one of the most remote places on earth to see firsthand the effects of climate change. As the debate rages anew in Washington over whether climate change is a hoax or man-made, Phillips will sail among the shrinking glaciers and penguin colonies where scientists now have irrefutable evidence of warming temperatures and its potentially disastrous consequences. Phillips's live reports and interviews from Antarctica are part of the CBS News series "The Climate Diaries," which features original reporting on climate change.
Phillips will join scientists in small inflatable boats as they navigate the icebergs and Antarctica's famous elephant seals to record the latest results of 16 time lapse cameras that have been positioned around the peninsula. It's part of a unique five-year project to show in real time the shrinking ice cap. Rising temperatures have already made the Antarctica a more dangerous place. The massive Larsen C ice shelf shows signs of thaw; a crack has appeared, and scientists are concerned that an iceberg the size of Delaware may be poised to break off.
Scientists are also studying the lives of humpback and killer whales using high tech drones to chase the pods across the icy seas. With thinning ice flows, the whales' regular food supplies are now under threat, setting off a deadly chain reaction. In what promises to be spectacular pictures, Phillips will join a small team of researchers racing across the water chasing
THE WHALE pods to better understand the effects of climate change.
There are also tourists from all over the world on board the ship, part of a booming trend that has seen a 15 percent increase in Antarctica tours. Over 40 different companies now offer voyages to the glamourous icy kingdom of Antarctica. Phillips looks at the question of how these tourists-filled with good intentions and curiosity-may also be harming the sensitive environment as its popularity grows.
Past installments of "The Climate Diaries" series have included an interview with the "Potato Whisperer," a pioneering scientist specializing in growing crops in salt water; underwater wind turbines powered by North Sea tides; shriveling coffee farms on the slopes of Uganda; and the drought in Rwanda threatening villagers and the endangered mountain gorillas.
Click here to watch those reports and more featured in the ongoing
CBS News series.
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