COUPLING PIXE AND SEM EDAX FOR CHARACTERIZING ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS INICE-CORES/

The atmospheric aerosol plays a key role in controlling the Earth's cl imatic system. This climatic forcing is related to its dimension and c hemical composition and therefore, understanding temporal and spatial fluctuations related to changing environmental conditions is a key ste p in assessing future climatic change. The atmosphere's chemical const ituents are deposited onto polar ice sheets, and conserved by accumula tion of snow layers. Drillings in Greenland and Antarctica have provid ed long-term records of atmospheric constituents spanning the last 150 000 years. Within the framework of the Greenland Ice Core Project (GR IP), we have developed a methodology coupling PIXE to SEM-EDAX analysi s for the characterization of the aerosols deposited in polar precipit ation. In this paper, we present initial results on soluble/insoluble speciation for both Antarctic and Greenland samples. This study provid es new information in the interpretation of ice core paleo-environment al records.