Continuous Ice Core Melter System with Discrete Sampling for Major Ion, Trace Element, and Stable Isotope Analyses

Abstract

We present a novel ice/firn core melter system that uses fraction collectors to collect discrete, high-resolution (<1 cm/sample possible), continuous, coregistered meltwater samples for analysis of eight major ions by ion chromatography (IC), >32 trace elements by inductively coupled plasma sectorfield mass spectrometry (ICP-SMS), and stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). The new continuous melting with discrete sampling (CMDS) system preserves an archive of each sample, reduces the problem of incomplete particle dissolution in ICP-SMS samples, and provides more precise trace element data than previous ice melter models by using longer ICP-SMS scan times and washing the instrument between samples. CMDS detection limits are similar to or lower than those published for ice melter systems coupled directly to analytical instruments and are suitable for analyses of polar and mid-low-latitude ice cores. Analysis of total calcium and sulfur by ICP-SMS and calcium ion, sulfate, and methanesulfonate by IC from the Mt. Logan Prospector-Russell Col ice core confirms data accuracy and coregistration of the split fractions from each sample. The reproducibility of all data acquired by the CMDS system is confirmed by replicate analyses of parallel sections of the GISP2 D ice core.

An ice‐core proxy for northerly air mass incursions into West Antarctica

“…The majority of the cores (99-1, 00-1, 00-3, 00-4, 00-5, 01-1, 01-2, 01-3, 01-5, 02-4, and 03-1) used in this study were collected during seven US ITASE (International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition) field seasons Mayewski et al, 2009). The US ITASE cores were melted using the University of Maine continuous melter system (Osterberg et al, 2006) and are sub-annually sampled (except for 03-1) for their entire depth (see Table I for more information). This sampling resolution captures the clear seasonal signal present in several of the glaciochemical series and allows determination of a relative dating accuracy of better than 1 year Steig et al, 2005).…”

Improved methodologies for continuous-flow analysis of stable water isotopes in ice cores

“…Other water isotope CFA techniques (not considered in this paper) have utilized a platinum catalyst for continuous mass spectrometry measurements (Huber and Leuenberger, 2005) or a thermal conversion elemental analyzer (TC/EA) coupled to a mass spectrometer (Sharp et al, 2001). CFA has also widely been used for chemical measurements in ice cores (e.g., Röthlisberger, 2000;Osterberg et al, 2006;and Rhodes et al, 2013).…”

Real-time analysis of insoluble particles in glacial ice using single-particle mass spectrometry

“…Core processing involved discretization of samples via stainless steel band saw cuts followed by standard sample preparation procedures for firn samples (Osterberg et al, 2006), which included manually shaving the outer 4-5 mm of firn/ice from each sample using a pre-cleaned ceramic ZrO microtome blade under a laminar flow clean bench. All samples remained chilled at −20 • C (diurnal variation < ±5 • C) from collection until ∼ 2 h prior to PALMS analysis, minimizing potential volatile losses (Ohata et al, 2013;Wendl et al, 2014).…”