A microarc discharge operated at atmospheric pressure in flowing helium is investigated as an atom reservoir for laserinduced ionization spectrometry. The operational characteristics of the microarc discharge as a primary atom source for atomic spectrometry are briefly examined. Preliminary observations of atomic emission and laser-induced ionization of sputtered analyte atoms in the microarc discharge and plasma are presented. A detection limit of 3 ng has been estimated for sodium by direct laser ionization in the helium microarc-induced plasma.