Relationships between ice core proxy data from the McCall Glacier, Alaska and the large-scale synoptic climatology

Ice cores have often been used to reconstruct paleoclimate based on proxies contained in the cores. Using an ice core from McCall Glacier, in the eastern Brooks Range of Alaska, we attempt to determine relationships between ice core proxies and synoptic weather patterns influencing McCall Glacier. The method of self-organizing maps (SOM) is used to objectively identify the synoptic patterns that influence Alaska. Relationships between the proxies in the ice core and the SOM-identified synoptic circulation will be presented, focusing mainly on correlations between time series of the proxy indicators and weather pattern frequency and differences in weather pattern frequency between years with high and low proxy values. Based on these relationships between synoptic patterns and ice core proxies we also seek to identify the preferred transport pathways for trace constituents to arrive at McCall glacier.