Jäätyypit

Jäätyypit refers to the various crystalline structures that water can form as ice. At standard atmospheric pressure, water most commonly freezes into ice Ih, which is the hexagonal crystal structure familiar to most people. This is the ice found in glaciers, snow, and frozen lakes.

However, under different pressure and temperature conditions, water can solidify into a variety of other ice phases, collectively known as high-pressure ices. These include cubic ice (Ic), which can form at lower temperatures, and numerous other phases (II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI) that exist under increasing pressure. Each phase has a distinct arrangement of water molecules and specific physical properties. For example, ice VII is a cubic structure that forms at very high pressures, such as those found in the Earth's mantle, and is stable at room temperature.

The study of different ice types is important in various scientific fields, including glaciology, planetary science, and materials science. Understanding these transitions helps in comprehending phenomena like the behavior of water in extreme environments and the composition of icy celestial bodies. The discovery and characterization of new ice phases continue to expand our knowledge of the complex phase diagram of water.