Watch CBC Wild Docs online: Episode 1 Thunderheads!

Armed with seven planes, a ship, 250 scientists and researchers and the best gadgets money can buy, a daring and intrepid group tries to catch the 'perfect storm.' Launching the 2007 season of WILD DOCS! Thunderheads is a thrilling ride that follows pilots and scientists as they battle to better understand the role of thunderstorms in the climate change puzzle. Thunderheads tells the gripping tale of I.C.E.-the 'International Cloud Experiment', a multinational force of 250 people from Australia, Russia, England, Germany and the U.S. as they learn all they can about 'Hector,' one of the largest thunderstorms on the planet. To the scientists, led by thunderstorm guru professor Ed Zipser and NASA branch chief Dave Starr from the U.S., 'Hector' may hold the key to better understanding how thunderstorms affect global warming. Indeed, clouds in general may be the sleeping giants of climate change. They have the ability to both trap heat-and to reflect sunlight back into space. As the Earth heats up, will the planet's cloud cover change? Currently, scientists simply don't know, but part of the answer lies in thunderheads, because they are the clouds that make other clouds. This observational documentary intimately captures the blood, sweat and tears that go into conducting a vast, ambitious and perilous experiment.

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