Dr. Xinzhao Chu Sees Best Year of Wildlife in Antarctica

Dr. Xinzhao Chu had a successful and productive 2019-2020 summer season in Antarctica. Her team gathered new lidar data, fixed unexpected issues with the lidar machines, and trained new graduate students about lidars and related principles and engineering. The team was also thrilled to see the abundant presence of wildlife in Antarctica. The total amount of the wildlife they saw this season far exceeded the sum of the last nine years (late 2010 to early 2019). Seals, many penguins, skuas, and whales (both minke and orca) were recorded. The unusual warmth in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean this year might be a major cause as sufficient open water allowed the wildlife, especially penguins and skuas, to feed well and raise their chicks.