Bowman Glacier is a deeply entrenched glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

, 40 miles (64.4 km) long, descending the polar plateau between Quarles Range

Quarles Range

Quarles Range is a high and rugged range of the Queen Maud Mountains, extending from the polar plateau between Cooper and Bowman Glaciers and terminating near the edge of Ross Ice Shelf. Peaks in the range were first sighted by Captain Roald Amundsen in 1911, and the range was mapped in detail by...

 and Rawson Plateau

Rawson Plateau

The Rawson Plateau is an ice-covered plateau, long and high, rising between the heads of Bowman Glacier, Moffett Glacier and Steagall Glacier in the Queen Maud Mountains. It was mapped by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition , 1928–30, and by the U.S. Geological Survey from surveys and from U.S. Navy...

 of the Queen Maud Mountains

Queen Maud Mountains

The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the polar plateau in Antarctica...

 to enter the Ross Ice Shelf

Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...

 just west of the flow of Amundsen Glacier

Amundsen Glacier

Amundsen Glacier is a major Antarctic glacier, about 6 to 10 km wide and 128 km long, originating on the polar plateau where it drains the area to the south and west of Nilsen Plateau, and descending through the Queen Maud Mountains to enter the Ross Ice Shelf just west of the...

. It was discovered in December 1929 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Laurence Gould, and named by Richard E. Byrd for Isaiah Bowman

Isaiah Bowman

Isaiah Bowman, AB, Ph. D. was an American geographer...

, eminent geographer and president of Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, 1935–49, and Director of the American Geographical Society

American Geographical Society

The American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...

, 1915–35.