Cryodiversity: the World of Cold on the Earth and in the Solar System

Abstract

Effects and objects associated with the cryosphere, the world of cold, are extremely diverse due to anomalous thermodynamic and electromagnetic properties of ice, intermediate strength of hydrogen bonds, broad occurrence of cryogenic systems, and combinations of these causes. Unlike many other processes, those in the cryosphere have variable rates. They can speed up or slow down under the effect of physicochemical properties of ice. Cryospheric time is a missing link between geological and biological time scales: humans feel the planetary dynamics via dynamics of the cryosphere. The world of cold has been an important agent in evolution, as it created conditions for the life origin and existence and has controlled the rates and mechanisms of biological processes. Modern technologies for data acquisition and sharing change both the form and methods of research. Discovering and exploring fast processes becomes possible due to advanced videorecording tools while progressively increasing remote sensing potentialities allow high-resolution imaging of objects in the Solar System. Real-time big data acquired by modern measurement systems bridge the gap between the conventional approaches to modeling of elementary processes and assessment of environment parameters

Keywords

• cryodiversity
• cryosphere
• rates of processes
• hydrogen bond
• evolution factor
• geophysical monitoring
• big data