In some regions of the US, spring is upon us. Elsewhere, winter is giving us yet another brutal reminder of its strength. While the prospect of multiple feet of snow is supremely depressing, at least the afflicted will be treated to some winter beauty—and that's just on the macro scale. Snow gets even more interesting when you look really close!
Electron microscopes have been around for the better part of a century. They use a steady stream of electrons to reveal a detailed view of the world at the teeniest of scales. Over the past two decades, the Department of Agriculture's Electron and Confocal Microscopy Laboratory has used this technology—specifically a Low Temperature Scanning Electron Microscope (LT-SEM)—to make really detailed studies of the structure of snow.
Snow samples from all over the world were collected, quickly frozen to a temperature of -321 degrees Fahrenheit, and "sputter coated" with a layer of platinum to make them electrically conductive. They were then shipped to the microscopy lab in Beltsville, Maryland, where they could be run through an LT-SEM and analyzed.
The research helped create a detailed classification of snow structures, which is applied to our understanding of flooding events, water tables, and the effects of climate change.
And while all that is interesting and probably useful, the most immediately interesting result is a library of beautiful snow as it appears from really, really close up. The images below might help you find a new appreciation for the one good thing about this cold miserable season.
(All images via the Electron and Confocal Microscopy Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.)
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