Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth

Life Stream follows the Gulf Stream, a massive ocean current travelling thousands of miles across the North Atlantic. Huge gatherings of whales gorge on fish beneath the Northern Lights, giant turtles chase monstrous jellyfish and fishermen battle for survival in mountainous seas. This extraordinary current is a migration super-highway and brings fertility to the ocean, but it also warms Northern Europe, even keeping part of the Arctic Ocean free of ice in winter. Everywhere it flows, the Gulf Stream helps to drive life.

Explore the huge expanses of the South Atlantic and see how spectacular oases of life are able to arise there. The answer lies with the powerful volcanic forces which formed the Mid Atlantic Ridge - the longest mountain range on Earth. Such volcanic undersea ridges and islands punctuate the South Atlantic, and their nutrient-rich upwellings create profusions of life. Huge pods of leaping dolphins, vast, chaotic penguin colonies and the largest gathering of marine mammals on Earth pack the South Atlantic’s extraordinary islands.

Follow a year in the life of the tropical Atlantic. For much of the year, the warm, shallow and sheltered waters of the Caribbean are an ocean paradise. Dolphins and manatees thrive amongst vibrant coral reefs, whilst monstrous whale sharks, bewitching bioluminescent plankton and even sun-bathing jellyfish cash in on this tropical energy. But their fate depends on events far away, off the African coast. As the Saharan heat builds, it spawns terrifying hurricanes, and all hell breaks loose across the Caribbean.