Earth’s Cryosphere, 2012, Vol. XVI, No. 4, p. 3-9

RECENT DISCOVERIES, THEORIES, AND TOOLS: MAKING A START TOWARD NEW PROSPECTS IN CRYOLOGY

V.P. Melnikov

Earth Cryosphere Institute, SB RAS, 625000, Tyumen, P/O box 1230, Russia; melnikov@ikz.ru
Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, 625000, Tyumen, Volodarskogo str., 38, Russia

The increasingly growing research in physics and chemistry of cryogenic phenomena has extended the bounds of understanding the role of ice, snow, and ice-like structures in the Solar System. In this paper, some prospects in cryology are outlined proceeding from the gained systematic knowledge of the cold world. This knowledge is due to recent advances in modeling molecular interaction in water, ice, and gas hydrates, as well as to new models of gas hydrates implying their long existence in metastable states at negative temperatures. It is necessary to continue studying the effects of drop clusters on cold upper atmosphere and the possibilities for using “dry water” in new technologies of gas transportation and storage. As an extension of ideas by Vladimir Vernadsky on links between life and different Earth’s spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere), new avenues are also opening in the research of viable paleobiota isolated from permafrost to improve the extant biological systems.

Key words: Ice, metastable gas hydrates, drop clusters, “dry water”, brincle, resources of permafrost, paleobiota, geomedicine.

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