Ciencia bajo cero is the first installment of a four-episode saga presenting an investigation that led Rosario Jiménez Gili, science filmmaker and communicator, to delve into the history of Antarctica in order to understand the effects of climate change on the frozen continent’s marine ecosystem.

Over the summer of 2019, Rosario and her production team from Las Minas SmartMedia took part in the ECA 55 expedition in order to film the work of oceanographer Andrea Piñones in collaboration with Oscar Pizarro and Nadin Ramirez, who measured the temperature and salinity of marine currents at different depths in Fildes Bay, with the logistics support of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) and the collaboration of the Center for the Dynamic Investigation of Marine Ecosystem at High Latitudes (IDEAL).

The Chilean scientists collected data at fifteen different measuring points in order to identify the changes that the southern ocean has been experiencing recently, after having been formed over 35 million years ago with the separation of the South American and Antarctic continents, which thus allowed the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans to connect through the Drake Passage.

This junction between oceans is precisely the starting point for the Antarctic circumpolar current, one of the most important marine currents. Andrea Piñones, an oceanographer and scholar Universidad Austral de Valdivia, explains that this current “is responsible for connecting the main ocean basins in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans, flowing clockwise towards the east.”

Hence the importance of investigating “one of the planets most intense currents,” as added by fellow Chilean oceanographer Oscar Pizarro. “A very deep basin of water of formed, and upon being in contact with the atmosphere this water mass balances its levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. When these sink, they are capable of bringing these gases with them and taking them to the ocean, thus slowing down global warming and the increase of CO2.”

Ciencia bajo cero was premiered on Thursday, January 23rd exclusively on the online platform Curiosity Stream, whose creators formed part of the prestigious Discovery Channel television Channel. This site currently offers a catalog of close to 2500 hours of scientific contents to over 10 million subscribers from all over the world.

“It’s very gratifying to those of us who generate scientific audiovisual contents to have this type of platform, and it is interesting how these subscription services are gradually gaining ground in the world,” the filmmaker points out.

The rest of the episodes that make up this 50-minute documentary will have the support of international producers, most of which are from Tokyo, the city that hosted the 2019 World Congress of Science and Factual Producers. Chile had a significant participation at this conference for science and factual producers, broadcasters and content providers from around the world, attending the global event for the first time with a delegation of three producers who travelled to Japan with the support of Corfo, through the project NODO Revolución Divulgativa.

Rosario Jiménez has ten years of experience creating scientific contents for series such as Vida Conciencia, exploring aspects of medicine and neuroscience. Her production company, Las Minas StarMedia, forms part of NODO.

Gaston Chedufau, the piece’s executive producer, commented, “Curiosity Stream is no regular streaming platform. It is the world’s most important SVOD system for non-fiction contents, and was created by John Hendricks, one of the founders of the Discovery Channel. Today, it offers over 2500 hours of contents to over 10 million subscribers from all over the world. This is the first time that they’ve commissioned an original production from a Chilean company. We’re very proud of this, as well as grateful that they’ve decided to put their trust in us and our experience. LAS MINAS SmartMedia is turning 10 years old in 2020, and this is a milestone that we’re celebrating.”