While glass alteration in liquid water has been widely studied for decades, glass alteration in unsaturated atmosphere (relative humidity, RH < 100%) has been far less examined. However, the understanding of the mechanisms involved in the reactions between glass and water in vapor state is fundamental to several fields such as glass industry, conservation of glasses of the cultural heritage and long-term assessment of nuclear waste glasses. This paper outlines the issues raised by the atmospheric alteration of glass in these fields and attempts to summarize the scientific approaches and findings of the three communities. This short review reveals that atmospheric alteration should not be confused with liquid alteration at high S/V (S = exposed surface of glass and V = volume of solution), because the kinetics and the nature of the alteration products are distinct. Notably, alkalies and non-bridging oxygens may be significantly retained in glass hydrated in unsaturated atmosphere, depending on the glass composition. Future lines of research are drawn to progress in the understanding of the specificities of atmospheric glass alteration.

尽管对液态水中玻璃的变化进行了数十年的广泛研究，但对不饱和气氛（相对湿度，RH <100％）中的玻璃变化的研究却很少。然而，对于玻璃和水在蒸气状态下的反应所涉及的机理的理解对于玻璃工业，文化遗产玻璃的保存以及对核废玻璃的长期评估等多个领域来说都是至关重要的。本文概述了玻璃在这些领域中的大气变化所引起的问题，并试图总结这三个社区的科学方法和发现。这篇简短的评论揭示了在高S / V（S ＝玻璃的暴露表面，V  ＝溶液的体积），因为改变产物的动力学和性质是不同的。值得注意的是，根据玻璃的组成，在不饱和气氛中水合的玻璃中会明显保留碱金属和非桥连氧。未来的研究方向是在了解大气玻璃变化的特异性方面取得进展。