A system combining ion beam and surface specific techniques for the analysis of probes exposed in the edge region of the plasma produced by the Joint European Torus (JET) is described. Among examples of the use of the system are the demonstration that 10 to 40% of the ionic charge flux in the boundary can be due to impurities, erosion and redeposition phenomena can be observed with small probes placed in the plasma boundary, and most of the oxygen observed on collector probes is an artefact resulting from exposure to air.