During the Ymer-80 expedition, a 6 m long ice core was taken on the low-lying ice cap Storøyjøkulen, Svalbard. Core samples of about 10 ml were filtered on 0.1 μm pore-size Nuclepore filters, for analysis with a soot photometer and by means of particle-induced X-ray emission, which yielded elemental carbon and about 15 metals in the insoluble microparticles. The concentrations

were comparable to Arctic snow data from other locations. Multivariate statistical analysis of the chemical results indicates two major factors affecting microparticle composition: crustal and anthropogenic. A regular seasonal concentration pattern was found which is consistent with the c. 40 cm annual accumulation deduced from mass-balance studies on the ice cap.