Evidence of enhanced local order and clustering in supercooled water near liquid–vapor interface: Molecular dynamic simulations

Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations have been performed to compare the local order in a thin film and the bulk liquid of supercooled water. We found that the density fluctuations and the average size of low density domains (‘ice-like’ clusters) in supercooled water in the presence of the interface are noticeably higher than those of the bulk liquid. The present simulation results support the concept of surface-stimulated nucleation. This may have a significant impact on the ice nucleation kinetics in the atmosphere, where the total volume and the surface area of typical (micron-size) aerosol particles have comparable values.