A New Multielement Method for LA-ICP-MS Data Acquisition from Glacier Ice Cores

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03950
• Publication Date: 2017-11-01T15:00:38Z
• Authors: Nicole E. Spaulding; Sharon B. Sneed; Michael J. Handley; Pascal Bohleber; Andrei V. Kurbatov; Nicholas J. Pearce; Tobias Erhardt; Paul A. Mayewski
• Keywords: 530 Physics; 13. Climate action; Lasers; Spectrophotometry, Atomic; Lasers; Ice Cover; Spectrophotometry, Atomic; ice core analysis, LA-ICP-MS, geochemistry; Ice Cover; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

To answer pressing new research questions about the rate and timing of abrupt climate transitions, a robust system for ultrahigh-resolution sampling of glacier ice is needed. Here, we present a multielement method of LA-ICP-MS analysis wherein an array of chemical elements is simultaneously measured from the same ablation area. Although multielement techniques are commonplace for high-concentration materials, prior to the development of this method, all LA-ICP-MS analyses of glacier ice involved a single element per ablation pass or spot. This new method, developed using the LA-ICP-MS system at the W. M. Keck Laser Ice Facility at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, has already been used to shed light on our flawed understanding of natural levels of Pb in Earth's atmosphere.