Eisvolumen

Eisvolumen is a term used to describe the volume occupied by ice within a given mass or system. It is a physical property that matters in disciplines ranging from thermodynamics and cryogenics to climate science and engineering. The concept is usually expressed as the absolute volume of ice (Vice) or as the ice fraction within a mixture.

In pure water, freezing converts liquid water into ice Ih, which is less dense than liquid water. At 0°C, the density of ice is about 0.917 g/cm3, while liquid water is about 1.00 g/cm3. Consequently, the same mass of water expands by roughly 9% upon freezing, so the ice volume is larger than the original liquid water volume. The Eisvolumen of a system depends on temperature and pressure: ice expands when heated within the solid phase and contracts when cooled, and high pressures can drive phase transitions to denser ice polymorphs, altering the overall volume.

In practical terms, Eisvolumen is important for calculating buoyancy, melting behavior, and material balances in both natural and engineered contexts. In climate science, estimates of sea-ice or glacier volume rely on combining measurements of ice thickness with areal extent. In industrial settings, the volume of ice within storage, freezing equipment, or frozen products affects design and performance.

Measurement approaches include direct geometric calculation for regular shapes, Archimedes-based methods for composites, and remote sensing or core sampling to estimate ice thickness and density in geophysical applications.