the circumstances of the accident are still unclear , but nsf spokesman peter west said that some crevasses are covered in snow and are difficult to spot from ground level .
the ice there is hundreds of feet thick in this area .
hamilton was a researcher with the nsf - managed u.s. antarctic program studying the stability of the ice shelves near mcmurdo station , a research center on ross island , 2,500 miles south of new zealand .
a researcher with the u.s. antarctic program ( usap ) , managed by the national science foundation ( nsf ) , suffered a fatal injury on saturday , october 22 , new zealand time .
dr. hamilton 's body has been recovered and will be returned to his family in maine .
dr. gordon hamilton , university of maine climate change institute , orono , maine , was fatally injured when the snow machine he was riding went into a crevasse .
hamilton 's body has been recovered and will be returned to his family in orono , maine , the nsf said .
hamilton and his colleagues have worked for several years to map this region with robots and ground - penetrating radar , identifying crevasses to be repaired so that vehicles can haul supplies and equipment from the coast to mcmurdo station .
( university of maine ) gordon hamilton , a prominent climate scientist who studied earth 's melting ice sheets , died saturday when his snowmobile went into a crevasse in antarctica , according to the national science foundation .