Snow crystal takes micrograph prize

No snow crystals are alike and they can take on many different shapes and sizes. Atmospheric temperature can play a part with how the crystals assemble. Snow crystals can be studies to learn about atmospheric changes or even for snow reports as predictors of instability such as avalanches or melting ice caps.

Deborah Powell was able to obtain a fully intact crystal with plate-like features along with many melting crystals. The sxample was collected outside during a snowfall onto pre-chilled Gatan sample holders and plunged into liquid nitrogen for transport to the lab. The sample was transferred into a Gatan Alto2500 and gold coated prior to imaging. Imaging was performed on a Hitachi S4700 at 3.0kV with a 15.4mm working distance. The image was pseudo colored in Photoshop.