  Despite the ubiquity of ice, a molecular-resolution image of ice crystallized
from liquid water or the resulting defect structure has never been obtained.
Here, we report the stabilization and angstrom-resolution electron imaging of
ice Ih crystallized from liquid water. We combine lattice mapping with
molecular dynamics simulations to reveal that ice formation is highly tolerant
to nanoscale defects such as misoriented subdomains and trapped gas bubbles,
which are stabilized by molecular-scale structural motifs. Importantly, bubble
surfaces adopt low-energy nanofacets and create negligible strain fields in the
surrounding crystal. These bubbles can dynamically nucleate, grow, migrate,
dissolve, and coalesce under electron irradiation and be monitored in situ near
a steady state. This work opens the door to understanding water crystallization
behaviors at an unprecedented spatial resolution.
