TROPICAL CLIMATE INSTABILITY - THE LAST GLACIAL CYCLE FROM A QINGHAI-TIBETAN ICE CORE

An ice core record from the Guliya ice cap on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plat eau provides evidence of regional climatic conditions over the last gl acial cycle. Cl-36 data suggest that the deepest 20 meters of the core may be more than 500,000 years old. The delta(18)O change across Term ination I is similar to 5.4 per mil, similar to that in the Huascaran (Peru) and polar ice cores. Three Guliya interstadials (Stages 3, 5a, and 5c) are marked by increases in delta(18)O values similar to that o f the Holocene and Eemian (similar to 124,000 years ago). The similari ty of this pattern to that of CH4 records from polar ice cores indicat es that global CH4 levels and the tropical hydrological cycle are link ed. The Late Glacial Stage record contains numerous 200-year oscillati ons in delta(18)O values and in dust, NH4+, and NO3- levels.