Water and Ice Dielectric Spectra Scaling at 0°C

The Debye relaxation in water and ice are considered in terms of dissociation-association of H2O molecules. This process leads to the occurrence of separated charges, of concentration N±. Within the proposed approach, the charge recombination (i.e., the H2O molecules association) is controlled by the charge diffusion rate. The static permittivity, ɛ(0), is solely determined by N± and increases, due to slowing down of the diffusion rate, as temperature decreases. The transformation of the dielectric spectra at 0°C is mainly due to an abrupt (by 0.4 eV) change of the diffusion coefficient activation energy.