SOME PROPERTIES OF METASTABLE STATES OF WATER

A number of new conclusions on properties of 2 modifications metastable with respect to the transition into crystalline ice at T < 0 C were obtained. Such modifications are supercooled ordinary water (water-1) and amorphous water (A-water). This study was initiated by new data on the microphysical structure of atmospheric cold clouds (CCc). Based on the new and previously known experimental data, the concepts on the nature and properties of water amor-phous condensate were corrected and complemented. It was substantiated that the optical glory phenomenon on CCs is formed as a bow of sunlight scattering by A-water droplets with a refractive index of ~ 1.8. The molecular mechanism of frontal crystallization of the metastable form of water, which explains the observed effects of water freezing, was considered. PACS: 82.30.Rs; 92.60.Jq, Nv 1