The Study of Ice Impurities Using the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy at Higher Pressures and Temperatures

Natural ice and snow accumulate and concentrate significant amounts of impurities that can be stored or chemically transformed, and eventually released to the environment. The location of impurities and their interactions with the water molecules of ice have not yet been sufficiently clarified. The aim of this work is to observe an uranyl-salt brine layer on the ice surface using a back scattered electron detection and the ice surface morphology using a secondary electron detection under equilibrium conditions in a specimen chamber of environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). Our specially modified ESEM AQUASEM II equipped with the YAG:Ce3+ backscattered electron detector, an ionization detector of secondary electrons, a special hydration system and a Peltier cooled stage was used. The pressures between 400-700 Pa, 50% water-vapor saturation, and the temperatures above 250 K were utilized in our experiments. At these conditions, the phenomena of etching and subsequent stripping of impurities are largely suppressed