In July 2003 the OSU team returned to the Quelccaya ice cap in the southern Andes of Peru to drill a new set of ice cores to bedrock. As it was impossible to return the ice cores collected in 1983 to the Ohio State freezers (see Quelccaya 1974-1983), they were cut into small samples that were melted and bottled in the field. Therefore, the chemical and insoluble dust analyses were compromised. The newly collected cores will allow the dating of the cores by counting visible dust layers to be complemented by the seasonal variations in insoluble dust, δ18O, and soluble chemical species (major anions and cations). 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 Quelccaya:
Core 1 was drilled to bedrock (168.68 meters) on the Summit Dome (elevation: 5670 m asl)
Core 2 was drilled to 29.74 meters on the North Dome
Core 3 was drilled to bedrock (128.57 meters) on the North Dome
Quelccaya-Coropuna Project Brochure: English or Spanish
