The challenging ice and water data banks

Water is a universal substance which, though very simple in structure, shows very unusual and remarkable properties. Most of them derive from the fact that water molecules can associate into semi-permanent complex three-dimensional clusters thanks to multiple hydrogen bonding. Depending on the average temperature of the earth, water vapour escapes from the oceans towards the polar areas where it is trapped as ice, the isotopic composition of which allows a reconstitution of the paleoclimates. Antarctica is also a privileged site for the deposition and archiving of micrometeorites falling from outer space. The in…