Paleo Slide Set: Low Latitude Ice Cores: High Resolution Records of Climatic Change and Variability 
in the Tropics and Subtropics
Camp on Quelccaya

After trekking their equipment to the summit of the ice sheet, researchers set up camp at the 
drill site. Quelccaya was the first core to be extracted using a solar powered drill. An array 
of forty-eight solar panels provided enough electricity to recover two ice cores to bedrock, 
one 154.8 m long covering the last 1350 years, and the other 163.6 m long and 1500 years old. 
Using energy from the sun, scientists were able to recover high-resolution cores without polluting 
the pristine ice cap environment. 

Photo Credits:
Lonnie Thompson 
Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University