INTRODUCTION

To date, ice-core records of climate from alpine glaciers in the continental United States were considered unsuitable because of the potential for extreme postdepositional changes in the del oxygen-18 (¹⁸O) values during summer melting cycles. Since 1988, a glaciological research program has been conducted on the glaciers in the Wind River Range of northwestern Wyoming for the purpose of determining the existence of a low-resolution ice-core record of climate that could be linked to other low- and mid-latitude ice-core records.  In 1991, a continuous 160 meter (m) ice core was recovered from the Upper Fremont Glacier, altitude 4,000 m, in the Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA. This homepage describes the first successful reconstruction of a low-resolution isotopic record of paleoclimate from a south-central North American ice core. The record provides evidence for abrupt climatic change during the termination of the Little Ice Age (LIA) and establishes a global linkage with ¹⁸O series from an ice-core record from the Quelccaya Ice Cap in South America.