Cue the “Jaws” soundtrack. Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” returns today for its 23rd year with new shows sure to keep you out of the water. Among the many specials, “Ultimate Air Jaws” (tonight at 9) follows the phenomenon explored 10 years ago in “Air Jaws.” A one-ton great white can propel itself into the air at speeds close to 25 mph when attacking a seal from below in open water. This show digs deeper to explore the behavior. As amazing as it is to witness the breach - as the jumps are called - equally amazing is that seals sometimes escape. Producers Jeff Kurr and Chris Fallows use super-slow-motion cameras to explore their theory that the force created by the shark moving through the water at that speed causes a pressure change that seals can detect, giving them a split-second to react. The resulting footage yields a shot of a great white in mid-air so detailed that it demonstrates the sensitivity of the animal’s jaw. Fallows also gets into a custom-built protective raft for some close encounters with a great white. “Shark Bite Beach” (Tuesday at 9 p.m.) explores a series of fatal attacks in California and Mexico in 2008. ...
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SINK YOUR TEETH INTO ‘SHARK WEEK’
