Équator

The Galapagos Islands are desert islands surrounded by an ocean oasis. Palmyra is an island oasis in the middle of a desert ocean. They lie half an ocean apart, yet both are shaped by the power of the Equator. Great ocean currents, set in motion by the force of the Equatorial sun, affect the destiny of animals living in both places.

In the high Andes mountains of Ecuador, the intense power of the equatorial sun beats down through thin air onto a grassland world fringed by glaciers and cloud forest. Every day is like summer, and every night is like winter. Within a 24-hour cycle, plants and animals adapt to both blistering heat and freezing temperatures–but how? Part of the Discovery Channel's award-winning Equator series, an epic production–capturing every detail in High Definition–that takes viewers on a 32,000-mile odyssey chasing the sun to some of the most extreme and diverse locations on the planet.

The Indonesian archipelago in the Indo-Pacific Ocean comprises thousands of islands, atolls and the largest concentration of coral reefs in the world. This rich and varied environment is a product of a unique set of natural circumstances. The equatorial sun powers ocean currents among the tiny dots of land. Where the archipelago meets the western tip of New Guinea an intersection of ocean currents creates perhaps the world s richest reefs in the region of the Rajah Ampat Islands.