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A novel ice-core laser melting sampler for discrete, sub-centimeter depth-resolved analyses of stable water isotopes
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  • Yuko Motizuki,
  • Yoichi Nakai,
  • Kazuya Takahashi,
  • Yu Vin Sahoo,
  • Junya Hirose,
  • Masaki Yumoto,
  • Masayuki Maruyama,
  • Michio Sakashita,
  • Kiwamu Kase,
  • Satoshi Wada,
  • Hideaki Motoyama,
  • Yasushige Yano
Yuko Motizuki
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yoichi Nakai
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science
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Kazuya Takahashi
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science
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Yu Vin Sahoo
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science
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Junya Hirose
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science
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Masaki Yumoto
RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics
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Masayuki Maruyama
RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics
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Michio Sakashita
RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics
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Kiwamu Kase
RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics
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Satoshi Wada
RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics
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Hideaki Motoyama
National Institute of Polar Research
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Yasushige Yano
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science
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Abstract

We developed a novel ice-core laser melting sampler (LMS) to measure the stable water isotope ratios (δ18O and δD) as temperature proxies at ultra-high depth resolutions. In this LMS system, a 2-mm diameter movable evacuation nozzle holds an optical fiber through which a laser beam irradiates the ice core. The movable nozzle intrudes into the ice core, the laser radiation meanwhile melting the ice cylindrically, and the meltwater is pumped away simultaneously through the same nozzle and transferred to a vial for analysis. To avoid isotopic fractionation of the ice-core components by vaporization, the laser power is adjusted to ensure that the temperature of the meltwater is always kept well below its boiling point. Internal contamination and cross-contamination were both found to be negligible using this LMS. A segment of a Dome Fuji shallow ice core (Antarctica), using the LMS, was then demonstrated to have been discretely sampled with a depth-resolution as small as 3 mm: subsequent measurements of δ18O and δD were reasonably consistent with results obtained by hand segmentation. The LMS will thus enable us to seek the past temperature variations that may appear even in sub-centimeter resolutions in ice cores.