A cryogenic laser ablation cell for trace metal and isotopic analyses of ice cores

阿尔伯塔大学新的加拿大冰芯档案馆(CICA)于2017年1月投入使用，这为建立现场能力，测量加拿大及其北极地区冰盖中冰尘的痕量元素和同位素指纹提供了一个独特的机会。冰芯是关于过去大气层、气候和气候变化以及自然粉尘、气溶胶和各种污染物向极地和高山地区大气输送的速率、路径和历史的主要数据来源。与海洋沉积物等其他气候变化指标相比，冰盖的累积速度相对较高，这意味着如果能够找到新的技术解决方案，数据的时间分辨率可以测量到前所未有的分辨率。激光烧蚀微采样与超灵敏等离子体质谱相结合是以高时间分辨率获取这些信息的关键。 这项提议旨在通过购买定制设计的低温冷却激光消融池，与阿尔伯塔大学北极资源实验室最近安装的现有最先进的质谱学和激光消融硬件完全兼容，在加拿大建立一个独特的设施，用于冰芯样品的激光消融分析。该设施将能够对冰芯中的痕量元素和铅的同位素进行最小限度的破坏性分析。这些化探指标是尘埃粒子来源的可靠指纹。在现有的深紫外光激光消融系统中添加低温冷却激光消融单元和样品处理模块将创建一个强大的需求工具。除了在分析过程中以数量级最大限度地保存冰芯，并达到新的时间分辨率水平外，激光消融还为困扰融化和溶液分析方法的优先淋滤这一重大问题提供了解决办法。 新的低温烧蚀池将是加拿大和国际来访科学家可以访问的国家CICA设施的核心分析能力。低温烧蚀池在采掘资源行业周围空气污染物的测量和来源追踪以及脑和其他组织的分析中将有更广泛的应用。它将成为HQP环境分析和监测创新方法培训的重点。低温消融设施将投资于并加强加拿大境内世界级的科学基础设施。

The development of the new Canadian Ice Core Archive (CICA) at the University of Alberta, operational from Jan 2017, presents a unique opportunity to establish an on-site capability to measure the trace element and isotopic fingerprints of ice-borne dust in ice sheets across Canada and its arctic regions. Ice cores are key sources of data on past atmospheres, climate and climate changes, and on the rates, pathways and histories of atmospheric transport of natural dusts, aerosols and a diverse array of pollutants to Polar and high mountain regions. The relatively high accumulation rates of ice sheets compared to other proxies for climate change such as ocean sediments mean that the temporal resolution of data can be measured to unprecedented resolution, if new technological solutions can be found. Laser ablation micro-sampling coupled to ultra-sensitive plasma mass spectrometry is key to accessing this information at high temporal resolution. This proposal aims to establish a unique facility in Canada for the laser ablation analysis of ice core samples by acquisition of a custom-designed cryogenically cooled laser ablation cell that is fully compatible with existing state-of-the-art mass spectrometry and laser ablation hardware recently installed at the Arctic Resources Laboratory at the University of Alberta. The facility will enable the minimally destructive analysis of trace elements and isotopes of lead in ice cores. These geochemical proxies act as faithful fingerprints of the source of origin of dust particles. Adding the cryogenically cooled laser ablation cell and sample handling module to an existing deep UV laser ablation system will create a powerful need tool. In addition to maximizing, by orders of magnitude, the preservation of ice core during analysis, and attending new levels of temporal resolution, laser ablation offers a solution to the significant problems of preferential leaching that beset melting and solution analysis approaches. The new cryogenic ablation cell will be a centre-piece analytical capability for the national CICA facility, accessible to the Canadian and international visiting scientists. The cryogenic ablation cell will have broader applications in the measurement and source tracing of airborne pollutants around extraction resource industries and in the analysis of brain and other tissues. It will form a focus of HQP training in innovative new approaches to environmental analysis and monitoring. The cryogenic ablation facility would be investing in, and enhancing world class scientific infrastructure within Canada