Overview (2003)
After the recovery of three new cores from the Quelccaya ice cap, the OSU team proceeded to the Coropuna ice cap located southwest of Quelccaya in the Western Andean Cordillera (15' 32'S; 72' 39' W). The Coropuna cores will be analyzed for oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios, insoluble dust and major anions and cations. The cores are expected to provide a record of ENSO variability as well as a climate history for the west side of the Andes. On September 10, 2003 the ice cores from Quelccaya and Coropuna were returned to the freezer facility at The Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center (see photos) where they will be analyzed over the next year. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation's Earth System History Program in the Atmospheric Sciences Division. A brochure describing the Quelccaya-Coropuna Project is available below:
Three cores were collected on Coropuna:
- Core 1 was drilled to bedrock (34.26 m) on the summit (elevation: ~6450 masl)
- Core 2 was drilled to bedrock (34.25 m) on the summit (elevation: ~6450 masl)
- Core 3 was drilled to bedrock (146.28 m) in the central crater (elevation: ~6410 masl
Cores 1 and 2 are shallow as they were drilled on the crater rim (6450 masl) while Core 3 was drilled in the crater
