GERMANY FROM ABOVE
3rd Season


Episode 9: Waters

The legendary chalk rocks in Rügen, the most famous island in the German Baltic Sea, are now measured from the air. Laser scans will help to predict landslides. At the renowned Arkona Cape the last remains of the medieval Tempelburg are slowly sinking into the sea. „Germany From Above 3“ follows archaeologists at their work at the Baltic Sea. Its inland sea and its shores unfold an amazing beauty from the air: the islands and the Bodden, the swamps and the sand beaches almost have a Californian flair and during sunny days they have the turquoise of the Caribbean Sea.

On the North Sea, millions of Euros are invested every year to prevent the favourite German holiday islands to be washed away by the tide. „Germany From Above 3“ shows past and future changes of the shores from Borkum to Sylt, an endless fight against storm surges and drifts. Germany from Above also flies with the helicopter that winches down the guides on the huge cargo ships during tempests and gigantic waves.

German rivers too have been tamed over the centuries – their beds have been dug out and straightened, dams were build on their shores. A flight over the original river areas shows what we lost: from the gorges at the headwaters of the river Danube to the Baden Jungle along the Rhine. In the Ruhr are, rivers were long used only as sewage for the mining industry. Today artificial, subterranean river beds are built so that even the old cloaca of the river Emscher is now re-naturated into a clean river.

Almost all major German rivers and seas – from the glacial valley rivers to the Baltic Sea were originated after the cold periods of the Ice Age when the melted water from the glaciers was looking for a way to the sea. Trough satellite animation we travel 250,000 years back when during the Saalian Stage the layers of were as high as the TV Tower in Berlin and the the Castle of Neuschwanstein.

On the North Sea, millions of Euros are invested every year to prevent the favourite German holiday islands to be washed away by the tide. „Germany From Above 3“ shows past and future changes of the shores from Borkum to Sylt, an endless fight against storm surges and drifts. Germany from Above also flies with the helicopter that winches down the guides on the huge cargo ships during tempests and gigantic waves.

German rivers too have been tamed over the centuries – their beds have been dug out and straightened, dams were build on their shores. A flight over the original river areas shows what we lost: from the gorges at the headwaters of the river Danube to the Baden Jungle along the Rhine. In the Ruhr are, rivers were long used only as sewage for the mining industry. Today artificial, subterranean river beds are built so that even the old cloaca of the river Emscher is now re-naturated into a clean river.

Almost all major German rivers and seas – from the glacial valley rivers to the Baltic Sea were originated after the cold periods of the Ice Age when the melted water from the glaciers was looking for a way to the sea. Trough satellite animation we travel 250,000 years back when during the Saalian Stage the layers of were as high as the TV Tower in Berlin and the the Castle of Neuschwanstein.

Facts

First aired 1st June 2013, at 19.30 pm on ZDF

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Credits

Written, directed and produced by: Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus

Aerial Photography: Peter Thompson, Irmin Kerck

Director of Photography: Tobias Kaufmann, Stephan de Leuw, Richard Koburg, Moritz Bauer, Marcus von Kleist u.a.

Video Editor: Johannes Fritsche

Producer: Kay Schlasse, Susanne Rostosky, Francesca D’Amicis, Silke Bojahr

Line Producer: Svenja Mandel

Narration: Leon Boden

Commissioning Editor: Friederike Haedecke (ZDF)

A colourFIELD production commissioned by ZDF

Full credits

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