A deep ice core has been drilled on the Akademii Nauk ice cap, Severnaya Zemlya. High resolution chemical analyses has been carried out for the upper 53m of this ice core to study its potential as an atmospheric aerosol archive despite strong melt water percolation. These records show that a seasonal atmospheric signal cannot be deduced. However, strong year to year variations have allowed the core to be dated, and a mean annual net mass balance of 0.46 m water equivalent per yearcould be deduced. The chemical signature of an extraordinary high peak in electrical conductivity at 26m depth pointed clearly to the eruption of Bezymianny, Kamtchatka, in 1956. However, in general, peaks in the electrical conductivity are not necessarily related to deposition of volcanogenic sulfur aerosol. In contrast, maximum sulfate and nitrate concentrations in the ice could be related to maximum SO2 and NOx anthropogenic emissions in the 1970s, probably caused by the nickel and copper producing industries in Norilsk and on the Kola Peninsula or by industrial combustion processes occurring in the Siberian Arctic. In addition, during recent decades sulfate and nitrate concentrations declined by 80% and 60% respectively reflecting a decrease in anthropogenic pollution of the Arctic basin.