A recently developed continuous on-line extraction and analyzing technique for air trapped in ice cores has been improved and tested. The technique allows fast high-resolution measurements of the isotopic and elemental ratios of the main air components nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. Continuous measurements of up to 1 m long ice sections can be performed with a resolution of ~3 cm (running average). For nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios the accuracy and reproducibility are comparable to conventional melt extraction techniques. It depends on the desired resolution and the composition of the ice. For either pure bubble or complete bubble free ice the reproducibility and accuracy for a resolution of 3 cm are ¿<0.02? for δ15N, ¿<0.05? for δ18O, and ¿<0.06? for δ17O. Furthermore, δAr/O2 (¿1?), δO2/N2, δAr/N2 (both ¿5--8?), and δ36Ar (¿0.2--0.3?) can be determined as well. The precision of elemental ratios is good enough to resolve variations that are detected in ice at depths where air bubbles form clathrate hydrates. Surprisingly, at these depths the elemental ratios show roughly annual variations probably due to strong fractionations between air in clathrate hydrates and air in bubbles. On the basis of our measuring precision we cannot exclude similar effects for isotope ratios.