Tony "TK" Kingan

Webster Drilling and Exploration

Head Driller

The SWAIS2C season at KIS-3 marks Tony Kingan’s 25^th anniversary of scientific drilling in Antarctica.

He first came to Antarctica as part of a Webster Drilling and Exploration crew in 1998 to work on the international Cape Roberts Project, which recovered drill cores in the Ross Sea to reconstruct Antarctica’s glaciation history. During the subsequent decade, he returned to the ice nine times.

He now looks back at 15 Antarctic seasons, participating in drilling projects to extract cores of sediment, ice, and permafrost.

Tony’s work means he travels overseas frequently, but he particularly enjoys the challenges of scientific drilling, especially in Antarctica where he has to modify the drill gear for frozen conditions.

Once he returns to New Zealand, he’s planning to spend a few weeks installing trig sites along the Alpine Fault for GeoNet, but he’s looking forward to more summers drilling in Antarctica.