on a journey across the coldest... woohoo! ..the windiest... whoa. ..and surely one of our most awe—inspiring continents. there it is, there. it's there. 0h! 0h, hello. look at that. just over 105,000 tourists visited antarctica in 2023. it was also the hottest year on record, with potentially disastrous global consequences. muffled bang. oh, it's a carving. that's a massive bit of ice falling off.

we see ice sheets melting, ice shelves melting, we have more carving. that's why we also have more icebergs in the water. as more and more people embark on these adventures, what can we learn about this, the most pristine place on the planet? myjourney starts here in ushuaia in argentina, the southern—most city in the world. it's one of five gateway cities for expeditions to antarctica. there are lots of antarctic tourists here, the brand—new jackets and backpacks are a bit

of a giveaway, all of them doing their last—minute preparations. as a journalist, i've covered the exploits of people who travel in extreme environments, and for me, this is the ultimate adventure. i'm getting really excited now. there's a genuine chill in the air, perhaps a sign of things to come. we haven't even left port and the weather's kicking in. it's part of the point of coming to the antarctic — you want to feel the elements. 0h! here it is — the ms fridtjof nansen. i'm joining about 400 passengers from all over the world, some who've been saving for years to come on this ten—day expedition. tannoy: very good evening, ladies and gentlemen. - welcome aboard fridtjof nansen on this cruise down to antarctica. we are all aboard and are ready to leave ushuaia injust a few minutes' time. shouting over tannoy all lines...

we will have argentina then on our port left—hand side and chile on our right—hand starboard side. here we go. let's get up to my room. wait for the lift. oh, it's a lot larger than i was expecting. pool, deck, bar. 0utdoor gym, indoor gym. a wellness centre. here we go. this is what we have for the next ten days. let's see what we've got. here we are. that's certainly a room with a view. and if i want the cabin to be instantly freezing cold, all i have to do is open the balcony door and it turns into a big fridge. great. i've come here to understand more about antarctica, and i'm curious to hear from my fellow passengers. hi, guys!

lena and natasha, a couple based in the uk, have also made the 17—hour trip to get here. i've always wanted to come to antarctica. it's beautiful, its stunning, it's untouched. you, of course, have all of the stories of the pioneers, the travellers who all came through some serious trials and tribulations to make it, and then come to the ends of the earth with my partner to see untouched, pristine landscapes, what the world would look like if we weren't quite here and nature got to just get on with it. erm... i think it will definitely change some ideas, some thoughts, as all travel should. viv, a retired energy consultant from australia, has always wanted to travel to antarctica. it's on my bucket list. but only problem is, it's expensive. yeah. that's why the younger people find it hard to come, unless they've got rich parents. what is it about antarctica that excites you so much, that interests you so much? well, its uniqueness.

yeah? yeah. and it's also the last frontier. it should be kept in its current state, you know, as it is. so let's hope it stays that way, you know, for good of mankind. what are you most looking forward to on this trip? those vast, large glaciers coming into play, that's l going to be exciting. opening the window to that is going to be amazing, right? l i'm really, really excited about drake passage. it's supposed to be wild and crazy, and it's literally nature's roller—coaster. drake passage is one of the most treacherous bodies of water in the world. it takes about 36 hours to travel through it on the way to antarctica. around four metres of waves. that makes me a little bit nervous. the worst i think was during three orfour in the morning. i've heard a lot about drake passage. why does it have this fearsome reputation? if you see here we have the pacific on one side,

the atlantic on the other side, and this is where the seas meet. so you can have some fairly rough conditions here. so we try to plan the voyage in the best, most comfortable way. but the comfortable could be challenging if you've got, you know, ten—metre waves or something like that. then it starts to get rough. oh, wow. this is what i've been warned about. the waves here can get as high as 12 metres. today, it's about four metres. that still makes it really difficult to walk in a straight line. you get these moments where the ship goes really high, really low, side to side. it tests your ability to, er, maintain decent balance. out of the elements...

hey, good afternoon, everybody. ..whilst we travel through drake passage, there are lectures with the onboard guest scientists. and when we talk about baleen whales, there are quite a few that we can potentially find down in the antarctic peninsula. we're mostly focused on two of those, the first being the humpback whale. tourism in antarctica is on the rise, with around 105,000 visitors a year to what are highly sensitive ecological areas. how busy do these waters get? in the recent years, they become more and more popular. yeah. and if you're going to land, if you're going to go ashore in antarctica, you're only allowed to bring 500 guests at a time. but there is an increase in activity of expedition vessels. there are concerns about the impact these visitor numbers will have on the environment. some tour operators are improving their green credentials, and this ship claims to be one of the most environmentally friendly in the world. when we boarded the ship,

i noticed that there was a big sign on the side of the ship which said hybrid—powered. it's... we are like a huge version of a hybrid car. yeah. so, that's batteries. when its green, then it's consuming, and it's minus, then it's charging. it's exactly the same as the stuff you see in a hybrid car. it is. and also it reduces the emissions when we can use one engine instead of two. we're now moving towards the antarctic continent, which is made up of about 98% ice. how much of a challenge does the ice pose out here? it can be quite a big challenge. if the weather changes, ice condition changes, then we have to re—route. the change of plans, that's very common down here. 36 hours into ourjourney towards antarctica, we begin to see a few clues of what's to come. look, there it is. first iceberg of the trip. just there.

this is my first iceberg. this is my first iceberg, so i'm very excited by it. now all we need is a whale breaching in front of it. and then we get, and we get everything in one go, don't we? you know, the start of the trip, everything you want to see. and then you say, "just turn around and go back." when you've made your decision to come here, how much have you thought about climate issues and things like that? yes, i think we did. we know that the ice l is melting much more quickly than it should be. and coming on a cruise - like this, where they do try very hard to keep it - as sustainable as possible. i'm impressed with the amount of knowledge that's on this boat. it's a very, very different holiday, because there are people here to load you up with information, if you like. you can go to the lectures and discover more things about the locations and the animals and the wildlife. i think that's why it's termed an expedition. yeah, it's notjust a cruise. up on deck, there's a crowd gathering to see the first sightings of birds crossing the drake. guided by the expedition�*s

ornithologist, julia from brazil. oh, look at that. what is it? what's that? a raft of southern fulmars. they are mostly resting on the water. and that's how sea birds sleep in the water. they usually land on the sea, and then they will tuck their bills below the wings and they just sleep. this part here of the drake passage is really fun, because we have this different species as we leave argentina and we go towards the antarctic. so we have just seen some albatrosses. albatrosses do not breed in the antarctic, but they use the antarctic waters to feed so we can see them. we have also seen some southern fulmars, cape petrels, storm petrels, giant petrels. so we have a nice diversity today. and this creates lots of opportunities for keen photographers with long lenses to spot those elusive birds. i want you to take some award—winning photography. no, i don't know. let's see. there's, they look like petrels, yeah.

did you manage to catch a shot of it? let's see how it turned out. can you see? that's a perfect shot. beautiful shot. absolutely fantastic. and actually, there are two different ones. this looks like an albatross. terrific. yeah, and this looks like a petrel. after two days and 680 miles, our ship has finally arrived next to the antarctic continent, where i'm surrounded for the first time by incredible frozen landscapes that i'd imagined before coming on this trip, with the antarctic peninsula on one side and booth island on the other. we're in the beginning of the lemaire channel, which is about 150 metres wide, and we will see massive glaciers on both sides. in the wintertime, this is all frozen, so no—one can pass through here.

nadia, the team's environmental scientist, explains the knowledge stored in antarctica's frozen continent. ice in general holds so much information inside, information about the ecosystem, the animals that live on top, the animals that live underneath. but also it can give us much information about the climate and weather that has been here for millions of years. how important is this region to the rest of the world? this is the place where most of the fresh water is stored, but it also influences climate and weather all over the world. we see ice sheets melting, ice shelves melting, it can rise the sea level where we live. so for example, you guys, you live in london, you will get your feet wet. this is all salt water and if this comes to your home, then we have a big problem. if something starts changing here, we see the change all over the world.

like everybody else here, i want to take the opportunity to just sort of soak up this amazing location. muffled bang oh, it's a carving. that's a carving. that's a massive bit of ice falling off. that's what that sound was — a sound of thunder. antarctica's sea ice coverage dropped to a record low in 2023, losing half a million square miles, which is over five times the size of the uk. as stunning as all of this is, it's horrifying, really, to consider that it could all be at risk as a result of a warming climate caused by human activities.

tannoy: good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i welcome now to hovgaard island. we are now ready to start our small boat cruising. and we ask boat group number one to please come to deck number three. there's a buzz on board because this is the first time that we're getting off the ship. off we go. get aboard the rib. morning, everyone. how are you all doing? are you excited? very much so. you should be. i'm catching up with lena and natasha on a daily outing to see the local wildlife. also on board are retired couple, keith and kath, who are celebrating her 70th birthday. we're on whale watch. there it, there. just there.

just where the water's disturbed, that's where it came up. a break in the water, there's a black line. you've got to have your head on a swivel because there are so many... there we go, whale, just there. look at that. can you see the tail out? just there. 0h! hello. whoa. oh, my god. that was incredible. that's. .. it's nothing like i've ever imagined. it'sjust not, and we've been to loads of places. we haven't been anywhere like this. no. oh, there, look, just over there. in the distance, we can see a whole bunch of penguins hanging out

doing penguin things. you're sort of hearing them. penguins warble i wouldn't call it chirping. i'm not sure what it is. you've got to get a selfie with the penguins. is that saying how...? that's it. i'm done on the trip now, seen my penguins. look at the seal. is there a seal? that really big... oh, yes. i was too busy looking at penguins to see a seal. oh, yeah, there's a sealthere. seal there. look at that. it is. look, i mean, it's checking us all. it's checking out the boat, it's checking us out. yeah. saying, "what are you doing?" we're off to take a closer look

at a penguin colony. thank you. thank you very much indeed. first time ashore. follow the flags. remember the five—metre distance for the penguins and not to put anything on the ground. and there are some penguin highways, but they are not super—busy these days. in order to protect the environment from our influence, we're only allowed to walk along particular pathways which are indicated by all of these flags. the penguins, well, they can go wherever they like and we have to keep a five—metre distance from them.

they're singing to each other. here we have a colony of gentoo penguins. penguins that have orange bills and a white patch on their head. loud warbling this is one of the southern—most locations of gentoo penguin colonies. as the climate warms, these penguins are expanding their habitats to areas that were previously too icy for them to breed. have they got their young with them at the moment? yes. the chicks have just recently hatched, so this is really exciting day because these are the first chicks that we are seeing this season. they are a little bit late this year. considering they've got chicks and things, they don't seem particularly stressed by human beings being quite close to them. yeah. penguins, they don't know humans as a threat as long as we keep the distance, the safe distance from them. some breeds of penguins are better at adapting to climate change than others.

gentoo penguins are different from the other penguins because they're actually doing well. they are thriving in these warmer conditions. while emperor penguins, they breed during the winter, so they need a lot of stable sea ice to build their colonies. and what we are seeing now is that the sea ice is breaking too early and the chicks, they cannot finish their cycle. the ice breaks before they are ready to go to the sea, so usually they end up drowning, which is terribly sad. it's encouraging to see the gentoo penguins have successfully adapted to the warming trend. you can actually see the chicks. very small there. they're only a couple of days old. so they kind of look like fluffy rocks, you know? but significant numbers of the world's penguin breeds are currently under threat due to global warming. seeing the sheer volume of tourists here today, with many having taken long haulflights, it does make me wonder if any of us

should be here at all? on the way back, we pass through icebergs at hovgaard island. look at the blue in there. wow. look at the colour, the colours... i know. ..the colours underneath that iceberg. the reflection of the blue in the water. 0h! man laughs is it making you feel emotional? yeah. 0h, absolutely. yeah. we got on the boat, i was shaking inside. and then we're sitting here and when you see that, you know, you could cry actually. it also makes you feel . emotional when you just wake up in the morning and open yourcurtainl and just see where you are.

i had a wee cry in the morning. yeah? yeah, it's very emotional. i mean, it makes you realise why we should keep this untouched, this part of the world, because ofjust how crystal clear everything is and beautiful and untouched. and how pristine it sort of, how pristine it looks. yeah, absolutely. it's hard to describe the perfection of the state of it, isn't it? yeah. you say pristine. it's like unsullied by anything. oh, look. penguin. 0h. itjust slid down. spending time here has made everyone consider their own impact on the environment. we can't help that we exist, but we can do better- to take care of it. we could make a different deal with the planet, a different deal with the environment, you think? absolutely. and i think seeing things like this remind us- that it's worth doing.

i think we get really- caught up in how, when, why, it's impossible. but, i mean, look at this. you just want to stop and do better. - next time, i'm joining scientists as they take blubber samples from whales. .. perfect. ..to understand more about their population numbers. we know that the pregnancy rates are high, the population is increasing, and we're also seeing more calves in the water. so all things we feel good about. and taking the coldest dip of my life. woohoo! that was just as unpleasant as i thought it was going to be.

hey, i'mjulia with the catch up. tonight — the return of gavin and stacey, climate controversy and a stormzy community. but we'll start with the local elections. results are still rolling in after the vote on thursday for councillors, mayors and police and crime commissioners. overall, it's been a big success for labour. while the conservatives have lost multiple councils and hundreds of councillors. georgia is going to explain more. if this was a popularity contest between labour and the conservatives, labour are the winners here. the conservatives have lost around half the seats they were defending so far and labourare winning in the areas they need to win the next general election. now, still some key results to come in, including london mayor. but right now there'll be lots of conservative mps nervous about their seats

at the next general election. and you can get loads more on the bbc news app and website. some other stories now. a teenager has been found guilty of murdering 15—year—old alfie lewis in leeds. alfie was stabbed with a kitchen knife last november. his killer can't be named because of his age. the government has been defeated in court for a second time for not doing enough to meet climate targets. the government has defended its approach though. and big news forfans of gavin and stacey. creators james corden and ruthjones announced on instagram that there'll be one final episode that will air on christmas day on bbc one. we're just asking one thing. 0h, what's occurrin'? and we'll leave you with 10 seconds of merkey fc. so that is the new space created by stormzy in croydon. it offers a community for teens and young adults with a recording studio, state—of—the—art gaming room and a full—size football pitch. that's it, you're all caught up now. have a great weekend.

hello there. the weather at this time of the year really can be very fickle, as we've seen over the past week, and during the bank holiday weekend it's going to be a mixture really where there'll be some sunshine at times. there'll also be some heavy showers. it could be quite warm, but we're not going to reach the high temperatures that we've seen in the past few days. take you back to thursday and all four home nations had their warmest day of the year. and we maintain those sort of temperatures in western scotland and northern ireland on friday. but for suffolk and north wales it was much colder because of cloud and rain. that's moving its way a little bit further north. but we've got some more rain to come on saturday across northern ireland. some heavy showers pushing across scotland may turn a bit drier in north wales and northern england, but still a lot of cloud. to the south, though,

we'll see some sunshine after a chilly start. a few showers developing in the south east of england, but in the sunshine across midlands, southern england, south wales, east anglia, it's going to be a warm day, 16—17 degrees. we could reach 19 in the north—west of scotland before those heavy showers arrive. there's a few more showers, though, to come in scotland and northern ireland, perhaps the far north of england, should be a bit brighter, but a bit of sunshine will trigger some thunderstorms. the shower across england and wales and a bit of rain coming into the far south—west. that's keeping temperatures a little bit lower here, but otherwise, widely, temperatures are going to be a reasonable 16—18 degrees on sunday afternoon. now, there is a bit of rain in the south—west — it's on that weather front there. an area of low pressure, not really much wind to move things on at all. there's a bit of uncertainty as to how far north that showery rain could get, but it's pushing a little further north into england and wales. there'll be some sunshine,

but we're also going to trigger some more of the slow moving, heavy thundery showers, particularly in scotland. and temperature—wise on monday afternoon for the bank holiday, typically 16—17 degrees. now after the bank holiday, the weather is going to change. wouldn't you know it? and it's going to get a lot drier because that area of low pressure moves away and this area of high pressure will build in. now, around the top of it next week, we could well see a bit of rain towards north western areas of the uk, but on the whole it is looking like it's going to get dry after monday. there'll be more in the way of sunshine around as well and if anything those temperatures are going to be rising, getting into the low 20s in many places later in the week.

live from washington, this is a bbc news special report on us campus protests. protests over the war in gaza have spread to us universities, threatening to disrupt exams and commencements, as more than 2,000 people have been arrested on 44 campuses. but at a small number of universities, the anti—war demonstrations end as a few major schools reach deals with their students to review

their investments in israel. i'm sumi somaskanda, thank you so much forjoining us. protests on college campuses across the us have spread rapidly over the past two weeks after they started at columbia university. a pro—palestinian demonstration at yale university, in connecticut, began in earnest on the 22nd of april. a day later, an anti—war protest camp was built at new york university, in manhattan. demonstrations then moved from the northeast to california state polytechnic university, then next to the university of southern california. around the same time, nearly a week ago, protests were also beginning at the university of texas, in austin. there have been demonstrations at least 137 college and universities nationwide including in georgia, louisiana, virginia, florida, north carolina, and other locations shown here on the map.

and for the thousands of protesters across