Kottmeier Mesa is a prominent 2,120 m mesa, 2.8 nautical miles (5 km) northwest of Mount J.J. Thompson in Asgard Range

Asgard Range

The Asgard Range is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It dividies Wright Valley from Taylor Glacier and Taylor Valley, and was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition after Asgard, the home of the Norse gods....

, Victoria Land

Victoria Land

Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...

. Almost wholly ice covered, the mesa is 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) long, averages 0.5 nautical miles (0.9 km) wide, and rises above the converging heads of David Valley

David Valley

David Valley is a small partially ice-free valley lying above the Conrow Glacier and east of Horowitz Ridge in the Asgard Range, Victoria Land. Named by Roy E. Cameron, leader of a United States Antarctic Research Program biological party to the valley in 1967-68, for Charles N. David, a member...

, Bartley Glacier

Bartley Glacier

Bartley Glacier is a hanging glacier on the south wall of Wright Valley, Victoria Land, just west of Meserve Glacier. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for construction driver Ollie B. Bartley, U.S. Navy, who was killed on January 14, 1957 when the vehicle he was driving...

, Matterhorn Glacier, and the north flank of Rhone Glacier

Rhône Glacier

The Rhone Glacier, or sometimes Rhône Glacier is a glacier in the Swiss Alps and the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the Swiss canton of Valais...

, all receiving ice that drains from the feature. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica...

 (US-ACAN) (1997) after Steven T. Kottmeier, who as a United States Antarctic Program

United States Antarctic Program

United States Antarctic Program is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the continent of Antarctica. It co-ordinates research and the operational support for research in the region...

 (USAP) researcher, 1981–87, investigated sea ice microbial communities in the fast ice of McMurdo Sound

McMurdo Sound

The ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...

, as well as krill associated with ice edge zones in Bellingshausen, Scotia and Weddell Seas. Served as the Manager, Laboratory Facilities, McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...

 for ITT Antarctic Services, 1988–90; Manager, Laboratory Science, 1990–96 and Chief Scientist from 1997 for Antarctic Support Associates (ASA).