THE PERFECT STORM Frozen for more than 30 million years, Antarctica is the coldest place on our planet. At its center, a four-kilometer-thick layer of ice covers entire mountain ranges. In addition to hosting a rich and little-known biodiversity, The southern end of the Earth plays a major role in regulating the climate of the entire planet. Less than 1% of Antarctica is not covered in ice. These rocky formations are the only places where penguins can lay their eggs.

ANOTHER WORLD Antarctica seems to belong to another planet. The deafening silence, the impression of purity and unbroken emptiness are difficult to describe. The polar regions may seem beyond our reach, yet they are subject to our influence. Unwittingly, we impact these ice worlds every day and these changes do not only affect the poles but also the entire planet.

ARTISTIC LEAK When the ice melts on an iceberg, it sometimes takes on the color of the surrounding water to offer a beautiful artistic texture show. The melting of the ice may be pleasant to the eye, but the consequences that these leaks generate are both multiple and planetary.

A FRAGILE EQUILIBRIUM Protected from the sun by ice, Antarctic krill feed on algae. Humpback whales from the tropics travel more than 8000 km every year to come here and feed on them. Over the past 50 years, due to global warming and melting ocean ice, the krill population in this part of the world has more than halved. Penguins, seals and whales all depend on krill, which in turn depends on ice. When climate change has an impact on the ice, it jeopardizes the fragile balances that govern the ecosystems of the South Pole.

FOLLOW THE GUIDE Penguins spend most of their time at sea, but they come to the coast in the spring to mate. Very fast in the water, they are rather clumsy on dry land. They must be tenacious in order to climb a steep slope and reach their nests. Carved out by thousands of small steps, the paths they take lead them to Antarctica's rarest terrain: bare rock.

THE PLANET'S WRINKLES Whilst giant structures, sculpted by nature, float by and impress observers over the surface, another important phenomenon takes place underneath. Currents flowing away from Antarctica carry nutrients around the world, fertilizing the oceans and helping to regulate the temperature of the entire globe.

LIGHT AND SHADOW The white surface of the sea ice cools the planet by reflecting most of the solar energy back to space. A dark surface does the opposite, absorbing over 90% of the sun's energy, thus warming the planet. With the retreat of the sea ice, the Earth is losing one of its protective shields.

BROWN STATION For millennia, a fragile balance has been maintained, the sea ice growing and receding with the seasons. However, since 2016, the Antarctic sea ice is declining at a rate not observed since the beginning of satellite records in the 1970s. This summer, the area covered by sea ice was 40% less extensive than in 1980. Observations made over the past decades at scientific stations have shown that Antarctica is the place where the temperature increases the fastest in the world. According to the World Meteorological Organization, over the past 50 years, the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has seen its temperature rise by 3 degrees Celsius.

WHITE AND BLUE Some icebergs have been part of the Antarctic landscape for ages. If you want to know the age of an iceberg, know that the bluer it is, the older it is! The ice of a young iceberg is white because it is well aerated. But over time, it becomes compact, compressing the air bubbles, which gives it a more bluish appearance.

JAWS The icebergs themselves are inhabited by many creatures. They are an essential living environment for both penguins and their main predator, the leopard seal. Its sharp teeth and pointed beak make it a formidable predator.

AN EPHEMERAL THRONE Although it feeds mainly on krill and young seals, some observations indicate that penguins are the leopard seal's favorite food, since it can eat an average of 35 per day. We should therefore not be surprised to find it enthroned alone on an ice floe which drifts slowly, busy calmly digesting the fruit of its harvest.

EVERYTHING COULD FLY AWAY Forty species of birds inhabit Antarctica. Whilst the albatross spends most of its time in the air, others like the petrel and the skua, encountered much more frequently, use the ice floes to rest. A team of researchers has shown that the ice sheets in Antarctica are losing their ice six times faster than in the 1990s.

JEWELS TO PRESERVE Antarctica is a real gem for the planet. The deep silence found there, combined with the immensity and purity of the place, has no equal anywhere else on Earth. Anyone who has had the opportunity to set foot there is able to measure the inestimable loss that the Earth would suffer if one day this magnificent place were to be altered or defiled. Although insufficient, images are necessary since no words are powerful enough to describe all that we stand to lose.

THE END OF THE WORLD IN DANGER The loss of the Antarctic sea ice would have devastating and inevitable consequences for all living beings that inhabit or depend on the southern extremity of the Earth. One wonders how much longer ice worlds will be part of life on our planet. Although located on the other side of the world, our daily actions already have an influence on the fate of Antarctica, and the consequences of the choices we make are likely to come back to us sooner than later, just like a boomerang.