Growth of internal melt figures in superheated ice

The use of light radiation to superheat the interior of an ice crystal and the transparency of ice allows one to observe internal melt figures, also called Tyndall figures, in an ice crystal. In this study, the growth process and growth rates of the melt figures were compared with those of ice crystals in supercooled water and also to the universal law of dendrite growth theory. The results suggest that growth of dendritic melt figures can be explained by the same factors as the growth process of dendritic ice crystals from the melt; that is, transport of latent heat, interfacial tension, and the anisotropic interfacial kinetics of ice. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.