The secret life of water at very low temperatures

The secret life of water just got weirder. For years water has been known to exist in 15 phases -- not just the merry threesome of solid, liquid and gas from grade school science. Now, University of Utah chemists have confirmed the coexistence of ice and liquid after water crystallizes at very low temperatures. They describe their work in the June 21 issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics, which is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

It takes more than a swizzle stick and a cocktail shaker to do this kind of ice research. It takes a temperature of 180 K, an extremely cold temperature typical of the upper atmosphere called the "no-man's land" of water because of the curious blurring of two water phases -- liquid and ice -- that occurs there.

"This blurring is what's interesting," says Valeria Molinero, who led the research. "Our findings show that what goes on there is important to the behavior of water and to the formation of clouds."

Molinero and graduate student Emily Moore discovered that at 180 K rapid ice crystallization makes it difficult to follow the process. Because the molecules move too quickly to observe directly in the lab, their investigation used computer simulations.

By targeting this critical temperature zone, their work might be important for understanding cloud formations that regulate global radiation and hence climate change. While this is a boon for understanding supercooled water and its role in cloud formation, it's a breakthrough for those dreaming of a No Man's Land Physics Fun Park. One day, they just might play hockey while swimming.

via The secret life of water at very low temperatures.

Image above and chart below: wikipedia

Phase	Characteristics
Amorphous ice	Amorphous ice is an ice lacking crystal structure. Amorphous ice exists in three forms: low-density (LDA) formed at atmospheric pressure, or below, high density (HDA) and very high density amorphous ice (VHDA), forming at higher pressures. LDA forms by extremely quick cooling of liquid water ("hyperquenched glassy water", HGW), by depositing water vapour on very cold substrates ("amorphous solid water", ASW) or by heating high density forms of ice at ambient pressure ("LDA").
Ice Ih	Normal hexagonal crystalline ice. Virtually all ice in the biosphere is ice Ih, with the exception only of a small amount of ice Ic.
Ice Ic	A metastable cubic crystalline variant of ice. The oxygen atoms are arranged in a diamond structure. It is produced at temperatures between 130 and 220 K, and can exist up to 240 K,[39][40] when it transforms into ice Ih. It may occasionally be present in the upper atmosphere.[41]
Ice II	A rhombohedral crystalline form with highly ordered structure. Formed from ice Ih by compressing it at temperature of 190–210 K. When heated, it undergoes transformation to ice III.
Ice III	A tetragonal crystalline ice, formed by cooling water down to 250 K at 300 MPa. Least dense of the high-pressure phases. Denser than water.
Ice IV	A metastable rhombohedral phase. It can be formed by heating high-density amorphous ice slowly at a pressure of 810 MPa. It doesn't form easily without a nucleating agent.[42]
Ice V	A monoclinic crystalline phase. Formed by cooling water to 253 K at 500 MPa. Most complicated structure of all the phases.[43]
Ice VI	A tetragonal crystalline phase. Formed by cooling water to 270 K at 1.1 GPa. Exhibits Debye relaxation.[44]
Ice VII	A cubic phase. The hydrogen atoms' positions are disordered. Exhibits Debye relaxation. The hydrogen bonds form two interpenetrating lattices.
Ice VIII	A more ordered version of ice VII, where the hydrogen atoms assume fixed positions. Formed from ice VII, by cooling it below 5 °C (278 K).
Ice IX	A tetragonal phase. Formed gradually from ice III by cooling it from 208 K to 165 K, stable below 140 K and pressures between 200 MPa and 400 MPa. It has density of 1.16 g/cm3, slightly higher than ordinary ice.
Ice X	Proton-ordered symmetric ice. Forms at about 70 GPa.[45]
Ice XI	An orthorhombic, low-temperature equilibrium form of hexagonal ice. It is ferroelectric. Ice XI is considered the most stable configuration of ice Ih. The natural transformation process is very slow and ice XI has been found in Antarctic ice 100 to 10,000 years old. That study indicated that the temperature below which ice XI forms is −36 °C (240 K).[46]
Ice XII	A tetragonal, metastable, dense crystalline phase. It is observed in the phase space of ice V and ice VI. It can be prepared by heating high-density amorphous ice from 77 K to about 183 K at 810 MPa.
Ice XIII	A monoclinic crystalline phase. Formed by cooling water to below 130 K at 500 MPa. The proton-ordered form of ice V.[47]
Ice XIV	An orthorhombic crystalline phase. Formed below 118 K at 1.2 GPa. The proton-ordered form of ice XII.[47]
Ice XV	The proton-ordered form of ice VI formed by cooling water to around 80–108 K at 1.1 GPa.