Crystal Growth and the Formation of Spikes in the Surface of Supercooled Water

Abstract

Abstract Observations made of ice crystals growing on the surface of supercooled water show that they take the form of a composite structure, called surface needles, each of which consists of dendrites growing into the liquid, and of ribs growing in the liquid surface. Each needle is a single crystal. The precise form of the needle is determined by the orientation of the initial nucleus. If its optic axis is near normal to the surface, growth occurs rapidly in two dimensions and covers a much larger proportion of the surface than is covered by the narrow surface needles, so that ice forming this way appears to have its optic axis vertical. Hollow ice spikes observed on pools are shown to have been formed by the freezing of water forced from beneath the surface at the intersection of two or three surface needles, the shape of the spike depending on their orientation.