During summer 1996, a 120-m firn and ice core was drilled to determine annual accumulation rates at a northwest Greenland site (GITS, 77.1392 ¿N, 61.0422 ¿W, 1910 m elevation). Annual layers were identified in the core using multiple parameters: Δ18O and concentrations of dust, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium, calcium and nitrate. Using all parameters together to define annual layers resulted in a 251-year record with a dating uncertainty of one year within that period. Annual accumulation over the period of record averaged about 0.37 m water equivalent. Comparing this record with four other multi-century long records from the west central and northwest portion of the ice sheet shows many periods when decadal-scale fluctuations in accumulation at the different sites are in phase. Overall variations in accumulation in this portion of the ice sheet were ¿8--9% per decade, versus ¿25% for individual cores. Annual accumulation at GITS showed a significant correlation with a 12-month North Atlantic Oscillation index (Pearson's R=-0.32 with a significance level of >99%), though the correlation was slightly lower than for two cores roughly 350 and 700 km south. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union