Environmental records from temperate glacier ice on Nevado Coropuna saddle, southern Peru

摘要

We investigated past climate variability and the zonal short and long-rangetransport of air masses in tropical South America using chemical, isotopicand palynological signals from a 42 m-long ice core recovered in 2003 fromthe saddle of the Nevado Coropuna, southern Peru (72°39′ W; 15°32′ S;6080 m a.s.l.). We found that precipitation at this site depends mainly onthe easterly circulation of air masses originated from the tropical AtlanticOcean. Nevertheless, sporadic Pacific air masses arrivals, and strong coldwaves coming from southern South America reach this altitude site. In spiteof post-depositional effects, we were able to identify two strong ENSO (ElNi?o-Southern Oscillation) event signatures (1982–1983 and 1992) and theeruptive activity of the nearby Sabancaya volcano (1994).