EES Researcher Continues Polar Legacy: Dr. Cao Yiwen Joins China’s 42nd Antarctic Expedition
Remember when our EES team joined China’s 41st Antarctic Research Expedition last year? This year, our footprints on the Antarctic ice continue!
Dr. Cao Yiwen, Postdoctoral Fellow from the ATOM Lab (PI: Prof. Alex Chow) in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES), has stepped forward to continue our department’s polar exploration mission. She is currently at Zhongshan Station, participating in China’s 42nd Antarctic Research Expedition. This marks the second consecutive year that an EES researcher has reached Zhongshan Station for scientific work—an impressive continuation of our department’s presence on the frozen continent.
As the only female natural scientist currently at the station, Dr. Cao is leading research with both scientific significance and global relevance—tracing the movement of organic carbon in Antarctica’s icy environment. By studying how organic carbon cycles through snow, ice, soil, and water, her work seeks to unravel how the polar ecosystem responds to global climate change.
“Antarctica has minimal human interference, making it one of the most sensitive regions to global environmental change,” Dr. Cao explains. “Understanding the carbon cycle here can help us better assess the future trajectory of climate change.”
Dr. Cao is collecting soil, water, and sediment samples from multiple field sites around Zhongshan Station. Upon returning to Hong Kong, she will analyze the composition and transformation of different carbon pools to determine whether carbon in polar environments is rapidly transformed or stored in a more stable form. Her research provides critical insights into how carbon travels through ecosystems — from forests and grasslands to rivers and oceans — undergoing complex biochemical transformations along the way.
EES’s continued involvement in China’s premier polar research program is made possible by the strong support from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the Faculty of Science, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
This participation underscores that Hong Kong’s scientists are not only masters of laboratory research but also capable of enduring the world’s harshest environments—contributing genuine “Hong Kong Power” to national polar science.
We are incredibly proud to see our colleague representing EES at the world’s southernmost frontier. Stay tuned for more updates from Antarctica, and join us in cheering for Dr. Cao and the EES team as they continue their journey of polar exploration!
