Pore space in a dry snow specimen is filled with a water‐insoluble liquid which is frozen solid. The specimen is microtomed, polished with carbon dust, and micrographed through a photomicroscope mounted directly over the microtome. Serial sections are prepared and micrographed at the rate of about ten per hour. The micrographs are automatically digitized, and converted to binary images for microstructural analysis. 1986 Blackwell Science Ltd