Dissolved and particulate sodium, magnesium and calcium are analyzed in ice cores to determine past changes in sea ice extent, terrestrial dust variability and atmospheric aerosol transport efficiency. They are also used to date ice cores if annual layers are visible. Multiple methods have been developed to analyze these important compounds in ice cores. Continuous flow analysis (CFA) is implemented with instruments that sample the meltstream continuously. In this study, CFA with ICP-MS (inductively coupled-plasma mass spectrometry) and fast ion chromatography (FIC) methods are compared for analysis of sodium and magnesium. ICP-MS, FIC and fluorescence methods are compared for analysis of calcium. Respective analysis of a 10 m section of the Antarctic WACSWAIN Skytrain Ice Rise ice core shows that all of the methods result in similar levels of the compounds. The ICP-MS method is the most suitable for analysis of the Skytrain ice core due to its superior precision (relative standard deviation: 1.6% for Na, 1.3% for Mg and 1.2% for Ca) and sampling frequency compared to the FIC method. The fluorescence detection method may be preferred for calcium analysis due to its higher depth resolution (1.4 cm) relative to the ICP-MS and FIC methods (~4 cm).

中文翻译：

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Skytrain 冰芯中钠、镁和钙检测的连续流动分析方法

分析冰芯中溶解的和颗粒状的钠、镁和钙，以确定过去海冰范围、陆地尘埃变化和大气气溶胶传输效率的变化。如果可以看到年层，它们也可以用来确定冰芯的年代。已经开发了多种方法来分析冰芯中的这些重要化合物。连续流动分析 (CFA) 是通过对熔体流进行连续采样的仪器实现的。在本研究中，比较了 CFA 与 ICP-MS（电感耦合等离子体质谱法）和快速离子色谱法 (FIC) 分析钠和镁的方法。比较了 ICP-MS、FIC 和荧光法对钙的分析。对南极 WACSWAIN Skytrain Ice Rise 冰芯的 10 m 部分进行的相应分析表明，所有方法都会产生相似水平的化合物。与 FIC 方法相比，ICP-MS 方法最适合分析 Skytrain 冰芯，因为它具有更高的精度（相对标准偏差：Na 为 1.6%，Mg 为 1.3%，Ca 为 1.2%）和采样频率。相对于 ICP-MS 和 FIC 方法（~4 cm），荧光检测方法可能更适合钙分析，因为它具有更高的深度分辨率（1.4 cm）。