In the spring of 1930, when Alfred Wegener sets off on his third Greenland expedition, he hopes it will be the crowning glory of his career. Just a few years earlier he created a furore when he published his theory of continental drift; now he intends to revolutionise climatic research. For a whole year he and his team will compile data from high in the atmosphere and deep in the ice sheet. This is to be the first long-term climatic study ever carried out, and it marks the beginning of modern climatic research. Some of the scientists will venture far into the interior of the country and even set up a research station on the ice. This, the aptly named Inland Ice, will be 400 km away from the base camp on the West Coast, and specially constructed motorised propeller sleds will be used to transport not only the construction materials for the station but also provisions to see them through the long winter. Wegener has planned the expedition meticulously, down to the tiniest detail – but things don't turn out as he hoped. Right at the start the weather upsets his calculations. He loses six valuable weeks, and it then emerges that the propeller sleds don't work properly. They will have to resort to dog sleds for all their transportation needs. Despite the unfavourable circumstances, the scientists begin work in the middle of the ice sheet… even though they don't have enough provisions for the winter. Supplies are to be brought out to them later, but then the weather takes a dramatic turn for the worse, and Alfred Wegener and his men are faced with a race against time, their very lives at stake. A race they will ultimately lose.
The Terra X team accompanies the adventurer and actor Robert Atzorn as he sets out on an arduous mission across the icy wastes of Greenland - and manages to develop an astonishingly close relationship with the missing pioneer. Lavish scenic reconstructions bring to life the fateful events of the year 1930, creating a powerful portrait of the great scientist whose work and discoveries revolutionised our understanding of the planet we inhabit.
