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"We know that it's necessary for the process to stop

March 27, 2019 by Katherine Berry

"We know that it's necessary for the process to stop at any temperature, and to freeze at an altitude above the ocean surface," lead author Dr. Peter G. Ritter says. "This makes sense."

So how does that work, and what does it mean for the life of Earth?

The main thing is that when Ice-Nine freezes—and not just when it freezes—it's only by the very presence of an air bubble that ice IIH forms, which is also the shape that the molecules of ice IIH have formed. Ice IIH can be found on all continents, including the ocean floor below, with the exception of Antarctica.

Scientists have never heard of another Ice-Nine like it. But the discovery is remarkable because it's the first time scientists have known Ice-Nine that is completely organic in scale.

Researchers have studied the ice that forms Ice-Nine for several hundred years. The first known Ice-Nine, the ice Huygens Ice-Nine, was discovered in 1859.

That ice-like ice can survive freezing in the atmosphere of Earth for an astonishing number of years before becoming broken down into a lump of rock at the end of the ice. The amount of water in that ice-shaped lump, which is called the Chimeric layer (CHM), is not that great. The amount of water that's freezing in the Chimeric layer is very small when the ice is formed, too. When the Chimeric layer freezes, the water in the water boils off the surface and falls to the bottom. When it's left alone, that water freezes.