Anthropogenic signals recorded in an ice core from Eclipse Icefield, Yukon Territory, Canada

Trends in the annual flux of sulfate and nitrate in a new ice core collected at an elevation of 3017 m on Eclipse Icefield, 45 km northeast of Mt. Logan were examined to determine the effect of anthropogenic activity on precipitation chemistry in the remote northwest North America mid-troposphere. The annual flux of both sulfate and nitrate at Eclipse began increasing in the 1940s, demonstrating, for the first time, the anthropogenic sulfate and nitrate pollution of the northwest North American Arctic in an ice core from this region. Comparison of the Eclipse record with regional emission estimates for total sulfur and nitrogen oxides suggests that Eurasia is the dominant source of pollutants reaching Eclipse. The available data does not permit a confident assessment of the relative importance of European versus Soviet emissions in producing the observed trends in sulfate and nitrate at Eclipse