Ice Physics Homepage
Faculty members include
Professors
M.B.Baker (Adjunct),
J.G.Dash,
S.C. Fain,
G.T. Seidler,
B. Swanson
(Atmos. Sciences), and
J.S.Wettlaufer (Affiliate).
An interdisciplinary group of faculty members and students is conducting
wide ranging research on the fundamental and applied physics of snow and
ice and their environmental manifestations. Ice in its various forms
affects an important fraction of the globe and the majority of the
world's population for portions of each year. It has enormous
environmental importance, through the influence of snow and ice cover on
the global climate, the scavenging of atmospheric pollutants by snow,
stratospheric ice clouds and their role in ozone destruction, frost heave
on roads and engineered structures, and freeze damage to agricultural
products and soils. These phenomena depend in large degree on the
molecular physics of ice and its phase transformations. Several current
research projects are addressing the physical basis of ice phenomena.
They include studies of nucleation and crytallization dynamics, surface
melting, adhesion and friction on a nanometer scale,
the microscopic mechanism of electrical charging of
thunderstorms, freezing in saline and porous media, and the application
of ground freezing for the management of hazardous wastes. An
interdisciplinary seminar introduces physics students to a wide variety
of allied fields, which include atmospheric sciences, chemistry,
geophysics, oceanography, applied physics and mathematics.
The group relies on close collaborations between experimentalists and
theorists and has a steady stream of visitors working in closely allied
fields of physics.
Experimental techniques include optical polarimetry, interference microscopy,
ellipsometry,
thermometry, calorimetry, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, novel
crystal growth and porous media cells. Active research programs in surface
phase transitions and crystal growth exploit techniques of field theory,
asymptotics, stability analysis and other modern theoretical methods.
Recent Publications from the UW Ice Physics Group (incomplete
list, more to follow)
- Bacon, N., B. Swanson, M. B. Baker and E. J. Davis, 1997:
Fragmentation of Levitated Ice Particles
Submitted to the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
- J.S. Wettlaufer, M. G. Worster and L. Wilen, Premelting Dynamics: Geometry
and Interactions, J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 6137-41 (1997).
- Baker, M. B., 1997: Cloud Microphysics and Climate. Science 276,
1072-1078.
- C. R. Slaughterbeck, E. W. Kukes, B.
Pittenger, D. J. Cook, V. L. Eden, P. C. Williams, and S. C. Fain, Jr.,
"Electric Field Effects on Force Curves for Oxidized Silicon Tips and Ice
Surfaces in a Controlled Environment,"
J.Vac. Sci. Technol. A 14, 1213-1218 (1996).
- J.S. Wettlaufer, M. G. Worster and H. E. Huppert, The phase evolution of
young sea ice, Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 1251 (1997).
- J.S. Wettlaufer, Introduction to Crystallization Phenomena in sea ice, in
Advanced Study Institute: Physics of Ice-Covered Seas, edited by M.
Lepparanta, in press, (1997).
- Baker, M. and M. B. Baker, 1996: A Model for the Ice-Vapor
Interface at Equilibrium. J. Cryst. Gr. 169, 393-404.
- J.S. Wettlaufer, M. G. Worster, L. Wilen, and J.G. Dash, A theory of
premelting dynamics for all power law forces, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3602
(1996).
- Huthwelker, T., Th. Peter, D. Lamb, M. Baker and B. Swanson,
1996:
A Theoretical Model for SO2 Uptake into Ice Particles.
Proceedings, ICCP, Zurich.
- Baker, M. and J. Nelson, 1996:
Comment on 'Solute Effects on the Evaporation of Ice Particles'
J. Geophys. Res. 101,23033.
- Nelson, J. and M. Baker, 1996: A New Theoretical Framework for
Studies of Vapor Growth and Sublimation of Small Ice Crystals
in
the Atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 101, D3, 7033-7047. 1996.
- J.S. Wettlaufer, and M. G. Worster, The dynamics of premelted films: Frost
heave in a capillary, Phys. Rev. E 51, 4679 (1995).
- L. Wilen, J. S. Wettlaufer, M. Elbaum and M. Schick, Dispersion Force
Contribution to Interfacial Melting of Ice, Phys. Rev. B 52, 12,426
(1995).
- J.G. Dash, H-Y. Fu, and J. S. Wettlaufer,
The premelting of ice and its environmental
consequences, Rep. Prog. Phys. 58, 115 (1995).
- Nelson, J. and M. Baker, 1995: A Theoretical Model of Ice
Crystal
Growth from the Vapor and Comparison with Experiment.
Proceedings, AMS Conference on Cloud Physics, Dallas.
- Baker, M. B. and J. G. Dash, 1994. A Mechanism of Charge Transfer
Between Colliding Ice Particles in Thunderstorms.
J. Geophysical Research 99, 10,621-10,626.
Recent Physics Ph.D. Dissertations in the Ice Physics Group (Incomplete --
several more to follow)
- C.R. Slaughterbeck, 1996, Force Microscopy of Ice Surfaces.
- Jon Nelson, 1994, Theoretical Study of Ice Crystal Growth
in the Atmosphere
- ...etc
Ice Research at the University of Washington is funded by xxxxxx.