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A solid water phase commonly known as "cubic ice" or "ice Ic" is frequently encountered in various transitions between the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of the water substance. It may form, e.g., by water freezing or vapor deposition in the Earth's atmosphere or in extraterrestrial environments, and plays a central role in various cryopreservation techniques; its formation is observed over a wide temperature range from about 120 K up to the melting point of ice. There was multiple and compelling evidence in the past that this phase is not truly cubic but composed of disordered cubic and hexagonal stacking sequences. The complexity of the stacking disorder, however, appears to have been largely overlooked in most of the literature. By analyzing neutron diffraction data with our stacking-disorder model, we show that correlations between next-nearest layers are clearly developed, leading to marked deviations from a simple random stacking in almost all investigated cases. We follow the evolution of the stacking disorder as a function of time and temperature at conditions relevant to atmospheric processes; a continuous transformation toward normal hexagonal ice is observed. We establish a quantitative link between the crystallite size established by diffraction and electron microscopic images of the material; the crystallite size evolves from several nanometers into the micrometer range with progressive annealing. The crystallites are isometric with markedly rough surfaces parallel to the stacking direction, which has implications for atmospheric sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-frequency modes of gas hydrates with Xe, Ar, O[SUB2], and N[SUB2] atoms/molecules have been studied by inelastic neutron-scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. Type I and type II clathrate hydrates show some small but significant differences of the low-frequency host contribution to the density of states. Both differ markedly from that of ice Ih and depend only weakly on the guest. The vibrational modes associated with Xe atoms were observed at 2.2, 2.9, and 4.0 meV (T = 100 K). They are in good agreement with predictions from molecular dynamics simulations. In the case of N[SUB2] hydrate we found a well-defined peak at about 2 meV, which shows a remarkable shift to higher frequency with increasing temperature. This peak and a broad peak that is overlapped with the host lattice modes (6.5 and 10.5 meV) are assigned to the vibration of N[SUB2] molecules in the large and small cages, respectively. The calculated vibrational spectra of N[SUB2] molecules in doubly occupied large cages show a significant distinct spectral distribution. The anharmonic shift of the guest atoms in large cages is significantly less pronounced in Xe hydrates suggesting that guest-host interactions can vary considerably from one system to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantification of the specific surface area (SSA) of snow crystals and of its variation during metamorphism are essential to understand and model the exchange of reactive gases between the snowpack and the atmosphere. Therefore, the decay rate of SSA of five fresh snow samples was studied in the laboratory at -4, -10, and -15°C under isothermal conditions in closed systems. The time-evolution of the snow SSA can in all cases be very well described by an empirical law o f the form, SSA= -A log(t + Δt) + B, where A, B, and Δt are adjustable parameters. B seems to be closely related to the initial SSA of the snow, and A describes the SSA decay rate. Our preliminary findings at -15°C suggest that a linear relationship exists between A and B, s o that it may be possible to predict the decay rate of snow SSA from its initial value. For the first time, images obtained from scanning electron microscopy show that crystal rounding of snow is the main process taking place during isothermal metamorphism. New grain boundaries also form. More surprising, however, was the formation of new basal, prismatic, and pyramidal crystal faces, sometimes with very sharp angles, especially at -15°C. The growth of facets with sharp angles is not fully explained by current theories of snow metamorphism and has not been observed before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of recent structural work focusing on the gas hydrates of methane and carbon dioxide is given. Both the crystal structure and the microstructure are considered. We report on the pressure-dependent molecular structure of methane clathrate hydrate using laboratory-made hydrogenous and deuterated samples investigated by neutron and hard-X-ray synchrotron diffraction experiments. The isothermal compressibilities are determined for (hydrogenated and deuterated CH[SUB4] hydrate, and isotopic differences between both compounds are established for the first time. The cage filling of carbon dioxide and methane hydrate is determined and compared with predictions from statistical thermodynamic theory. In the case of small cages in methane hydrate, experimental results and predictions do not agree. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy reveals the meso- to macro-porous nature of gas hydrates formed with an excess of free gas. Furthermore, in situ measurements of the formation kinetics of porous hydrates are reported in which differences between methane and carbon dioxide are established quantitatively and the transient existence of a type II carbon dioxide structure is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have performed first-principles calculations on different (H2O)n dodecahedral (n=20) and tetrakaidecahedral (n=24) buckyball water clusters. A full geometrical optimization of representative isomers of these clusters is performed with and without the presence of Ar atoms inside the water cluster. In a number of cases a rearrangement of the H-bond network is observed. The cluster stability and the possible relation between their stability and the local water molecule arrangements are analyzed. A classification scheme based on dimer configurations is introduced to efficiently correlate configurational and geometric parameters of the H-bond network within the cluster. This classification is considered helpful in building energetically favorable 3-coordinated water clusters and for finding the most stable isomer configuration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A mathematical framework is presented to represent turbostratic disorder in materials like carbon blacks, smectites and twisted n-layer graphene. In particular, the set of all possible disordered layers, including rotated, shifted and curved layers, forms a stochastic sequence governed by a hidden Markov model. The probability distribution over the set of layer types is treated as an element of a Hilbert space and, using the tools of Fourier analysis and functional analysis, expressions are developed for the scattering cross sections of a broad class of disordered materials.