shiraiwa_2004.htm
Bulletin of Glaciological Research 21 (2004)
71-78
©Japanese Society of Snow and Ice
Shallow ice-core drilling at Mount Wrangell, Alaska
Takayuki SHIRAIWA1, Syosaku KANAMORI1, Carl S. BENSON2, Daniel SOLIE2 and Yaroslav D. MURAVYEV3
1 Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0819 Japan
2 Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Koyukuk Drive, P.O.Box 757320, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7320 USA
3 Institute of Volcanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka Oblast 683006, Russia
Abstract
During the 2003 summer we initiated a three-year study of climate and volcanic history on Mt. Wrangell, Alaska (60 °N, 144 °W, 4317 m). It is being done in c omparison with research on Ushkovsky Volcano (56 °N, 160 °E, 3903 m), Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. Both are ice-covered, andesitic volcanoes on the north Pacific rim, at 4000 m altitude and within 6° in latitude. In June 2003 a research camp was established in the Summit Caldera of Mt. Wrangell for the purpose of ice core drilling, radio echo sounding of ice depth, and maintenance of previously established photo control points on crater rims for use in aerial photogrammetry. A 50m ice core of high quality was obtained in sections 50 cm long, with a new drill which performed very well. It will be analyzed for δ18O and δD as well as for chemical analyses of major ions and volcanic ash traces. The core extended back to 1981 and overlapped stratigraphically with core and pit studies done from 1961 to 1982 on Mt. Wrangell. The 10-m deep temperature was -18.9 °C and was found to be higher as much as 1 °C than those observed in 1970s.
