  Polar ice cores play a central role in studies of the earth's climate system
through natural archives. A pressing issue is the analysis of the oldest,
highly thinned ice core sections, where the identification of paleoclimate
signals is particularly challenging. For this, state-of-the-art imaging by
laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has the
potential to be revolutionary due to its combination of micron-scale 2D
chemical information with visual features. However, the quantitative study of
record preservation in chemical images raises new questions that call for the
expertise of the computer vision community. To illustrate this new
inter-disciplinary frontier, we describe a selected set of key questions. One
critical task is to assess the paleoclimate significance of single line
profiles along the main core axis, which we show is a scale-dependent problem
for which advanced image analysis methods are critical. Another important issue
is the evaluation of post-depositional layer changes, for which the chemical
images provide rich information. Accordingly, the time is ripe to begin an
intensified exchange among the two scientific communities of computer vision
and ice core science. The collaborative building of a new framework for
investigating high-resolution chemical images with automated image analysis
techniques will also benefit the already wide-spread application of LA-ICP-MS
chemical imaging in the geosciences.
