Impurity effects in the premelting of ice

The effect of impurities on the surface and interfacial melting of ice is i nvestigated in the context of the Dejaguin-Landau-Venvey-Overbeek theory by calculating van der Waals and Coulombic interactions within interfacial so lution films. At high temperatures, the classical solute effect dominates t he melting behavior. However, depending on the amount of impurity, as tempe rature decreases the slope of the film-thickness versus temperature curve c hanges in a manner that depends on the relative strengths of van der Waals and Coulombic interactions. The results explain the wide range of experimen tal discrepancies and hence impact a host of environmental phenomena.