Materials are arranged in the order created during the interview process with the first file containing administrative materials created before, during, and after the interview.
Accession No. PA.2002.0017: Anthony J. Gow, 2002 October
[identification of item], Anthony J. Gow Oral History, SPEC.PA.56.0119, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
Contains audiocassettes.
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Processed by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2023 November; Finding aid written by: Tricia McEldowney, 2023 December
Dr. Anthony J. “Tony” Gow (1931-) was born in New Zealand. He attended Victoria University College (renamed Victoria University of Wellington in 1961) and graduated with a degree in geology in the 1950s.
In 1957, Gow applied to and was accepted at the Snow Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment (SIPRE; renamed the Cold Region Research and Engineering Laboratory in 1961). He departed in December of that year for Byrd Station in Antarctica to participate in ice drilling projects. Gow was tasked with overseeing the transportation of the drilled ice cores to the SIPRE laboratory in Wilmette, Illinois, for study. He returned to Antarctica in October of 1958 for additional ice drilling, this time at the Little America V research station. During this project, Gow and his team were able to drill through the bottom of the Ross Ice Shelf (258 meters deep). This was the first time anyone had successfully drilled through a glacier to the bottom. Gow remained at Little America until the station closed in early 1959. He returned to Antarctica almost annually in the 1960s. In addition to follow-up studies on the Byrd Station and Little America drill sites, Gow also spent time studying the conversion of glacial ice to sea ice at Koettlitz Glacier near McMurdo Sound. In a 1968 Antarctic drilling project, Gow and his team drilled a hole 2,164 meters deep and reached the bottom of the ice sheet—the first time anyone had successfully drilled to bedrock in deep ice.
Gow received a master’s degree in geology and eventually a Doctor of Science in geology in 1973, both from Victoria University. He continued his ice career in the Arctic by studying sea ice and floebergs off the Alaskan coast in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Gow participated simultaneously in both Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory experiments (CRRELEX) and Marginal Ice Zone experiments (MIZEX). He next turned his attention to the Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP). Gow returned to Antarctica once again in 1997-1998 for the drilling of Siple Dome before he retired in 1998. Mount Gow, a mountain in Antarctica, was named for Anthony J. Gow.
The Anthony J. Gow Oral History, dated 2002-after 2002, contains notes, audio recordings, and transcripts of the interview between Gow and Brian Shoemaker conducted on October 26, 2002. This interview was a part of a series of polar oral histories sponsored by American Polar Society and Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Major topics discussed include the Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Research Establishment ice drilling in Antarctica and the ice core samples that resulted from these projects; the Koettlitz Glacier and the conversion of glacial ice to sea ice; Arctic floebergs and sea ice off the Alaskan coast; and the simultaneous experiments by the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and the Marginal Ice Zone Program.