The electronmagnetic emission (EME) accompanying freezing of distilled water and dilute aqueous NaCl solutions is revealed and investigated. The EME signal is a sequence of discrete pulses of the electric field potential in the vicinity of the outward surface of ice-water system during the crystallization process. We found correlation between parameters of emission and kinetics and morphology of growing ice and propagation of the growing-induced cracks, It is shown that measurements of an EME signal during the freezing of dilute aqueous solutions allow mapping of the mesoscopic-level patterning to the time series. The relationship between phenomenon of the EME and the Workman Reynolds effect is discussed. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.