Concentrations of the cosmogenic isotope Be-10 have been measured in m
ore than 1350 samples from the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice c
ore drilled at Summit, Greenland. Although a dust-associated component
of Be-10 retained by 0.45 mu m filters in some of the samples complic
ates the interpretations, the results confirm that the first-order ori
gin of Be-10 concentration variations is changes in precipitation rate
associated with different climate regimes. This effect is seen not on
ly between glacial and interglacial periods, but also during the short
er ''Dansgaard-Oeschger'' interstadials. By contrast, the Be-10 data d
o not support the interpretation of rapidly varying accumulation (i.e.
, climate) during the last interglacial. They can, however, be used to
help place limits on the origin of the ice in these events. After tak
ing into account variable snow accumulation effects, variations in the
Be-10 flux are observed, probably caused by solar and geomagnetic mod
ulation, but possibly also by primary cosmic ray variations. The most
dramatic is a Be-10 peak similar to 40,000 years ago, similar to that
found in the Vostok ice core, thus permitting a very precise correlati
on between climate records from Arctic and Antarctic ice cores. The Cl
-36/Be-10 ratio (considering either ''total'' or only ice-associated B
e-10) shows significant variability over the whole core depth, thus co
nfirming the difficulty in using this parameter for ''dating'' ice cor
es.