LINCOLN, Neb. —At the bottom of the Earth is a continent encased in ice, a place so remote and mysterious that it’s largely unknown to most people. Yet Antarctica holds secrets that affect our climate future. Antarctica’s secrets are not in the ice, but in the rocks beneath it.

That’s why NET Television producer Gary Hochman, videographers Pat Aylward and Brian Seifferlein and audio engineer Jim Lenertz made four separate trips to Antarctica to cover the ANDRILL expedition.

ANDRILL is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL) international geological drilling program investigating Antarctica’s role in climate change.

“Secrets Beneath the Ice”” is a NET Television production for the PBS “NOVA” series.

It premieres nationally on Tuesday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. CT on NET1 and NET-HD. The program, which repeats on Sunday, Jan. 2, at 6 p.m. CT on NET1 and NET-HD, was funded by the National Science Foundation.

“Why should we care about this frozen wilderness? Ice. Antarctica contains 90 percent of the Earth’s ice,” says Seifferlein, a native of Dowagiac, who currently lives in Nebraska.

“If even a fraction of Antarctica melts, it could cause disastrous flooding for coastal cities worldwide.”

Shot in Antarctica, New Zealand and laboratories in the United States, the one-hour documentary brings viewers behind-the-scenes to look at how ANDRILL scientists detect patterns of climate change through time.

Using a giant drill mounted on a sled, ANDRILL scientists and technicians drill through the ice, down through the ocean and three-fourths of a mile into the sea floor sediments.

ANDRILL recovers rock cores that reveal fossil evidence of life from Antarctica’s climate history through time — including periods that are just a few degrees warmer than today.

“In 2002, scientists were shocked when an ice shelf the size of Manhattan collapsed in less than a month,” said Hochman. “This raised alarming questions. In an increasingly warming world, could Antarctica be headed for a meltdown? And has anything like this ever happened before? That’s what ANDRILL scientists are investigating.”

UNL geologists David Harwood, Chris Fielding, Tracy Frank, Josh Reed and Richard Levy, who are part of ANDRILL, are the chief investigators in the documentary.

ANDRILL aims to detect how Antarctica’s climate past has affected global sea levels and how Antarctica’s climate patterns may play out for Earth’s future.

“We’re pleased that NET Television has been able to explain the cutting edge geology of the ANDRILL project, and the important work of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists who lead it to the large PBS national audience on ‘NOVA,’ ” said David Feingold, NET assistant general manager for content. “NET has a longstanding commitment to covering science on television, radio and digital media, and has reported on many Nebraska-based science efforts for the statewide audiences of NET Television and NET Radio, as well as for national listeners and viewers on PBS and NPR.”

The NET team recorded first-hand challenges the ANDRILL scientists experienced working under extreme conditions on the frozen continent.

The outcome is a visually stunning documentary about what it takes to conduct the science behind the headlines about one of the most crucial challenges facing the planet — climate change.

For more information about”Secrets Beneath the Ice,” as well as educational video resources, a photo gallery and blog, visit netNebraska.org/ice.

“Secrets Beneath the Ice” is a production of NET Television for “NOVA.”

Partners with NET in the project were the University of Nebraska and the University of Nebraska State Museum in cooperation with ANDRILL.

The research efforts are coordinated through the ANDRILL Science Management Office at UNL.

For more information about ANDRILL, visit andrill.org.