Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 4, 2026

A Microfluidic Approach for the Study of Ice and Clathrate Hydrate Crystallization
Published on: August 18, 2022
Singular sublimation of ice and snow crystals
Etienne Jambon-Puillet1, Noushine Shahidzadeh2, Daniel Bonn2
1Institute of Physics, Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. e.a.m.jambonpuillet@uva.nl.
Abstract:
The evaporation (sublimation) of ice and snow has a major impact on global climate, since the amount of ice and snow determines Earth's albedo. Yet, due to their complex geometry with several sharp regions which are singular for the evaporation, the precise evaporation dynamics of snow and ice crystals remains challenging to predict. Here, we study the sublimation of snowflakes and pointy ice drops. We show that the evaporation rates of water and ice drops are similar; they are both limited by the diffusive transport of the vapour. This allows us to predict ice and snowflake evaporation quantitatively by solving the diffusive free-boundary problem, which correctly predicts the rapid self-similar evolution of sharp edges and points. Beyond providing a conceptual picture to understand the sublimation of ice crystals, our results are more generally applicable to other diffusion problems such as the dissolution of salt crystals or pharmaceuticals.
More Related Videos
08:46Determining the Ice-binding Planes of Antifreeze Proteins by Fluorescence-based Ice Plane Affinity
Published on: January 15, 2014
09:43Identification of Plant Ice-binding Proteins Through Assessment of Ice-recrystallization Inhibition and Isolation Using Ice-affinity Purification
Published on: May 5, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Sublimation
Singularity Functions for Shear
Singularity Functions for Bending Moment
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent...