The characteristics of supersaturation have practical applications in terms of pharmaceuticals. By creating a supersaturated solution of a certain drug, it can be ingested in liquid form. The drug can be made driven into a supersaturated state through any normal mechanism and then prevented from precipitating out by adding precipitation inhibitors. Drugs in this state are referred to as "supersaturating drug delivery services," or "SDDS." Oral consumption of a drug in this form is simple and allows for the measurement of very precise dosages. Primarily, it provides a means for drugs with very low solubility to be made into aqueous solutions. In addition, some drugs can undergo supersaturation inside the body despite being ingested in a crystalline form. This phenomenon is known as in vivo supersaturation.
The identification of supersaturated solutions can be used as a tool for marine ecologists to study the activity of organisms and populations. Photosynthetic organisms release O gas into the water. Thus, an area of the ocean supersaturated with O gas can likely determined to be rich with photosynthetic activity. Though some O will naturally be found in the ocean due to simple physical chemical properties, upwards of 70% of all oxygen gas found in supersaturated regions can be attributed to photosynthetic activity.
Supersaturation in vapor phase is usually present in the expansion process through steam nozzles that operate with superheated steam at the inlet, which transitions to saturated state at the outlet. Supersaturation thus becomes an important factor to be taken into account in the design of steam turbines, as this results in an actual mass flow of steam through the nozzle being about 1 to 3% greater than the theoretically calculated value that would be expected if the expanding steam underwent a reversible adiabatic process through equilibrium states. In these cases supersaturation occurs due to the fact that the expansion process develops so rapidly and in such a short time, that the expanding vapor cannot reach its equilibrium state in the process, behaving as if it were superheated. Hence the determination of the expansion ratio, relevant to the calculation of the mass flow through the nozzle, must be done using an adiabatic index of approximately 1.3, like that of the superheated steam, instead of 1.135, which is the value that should have to be used for a quasi-static adiabatic expansion in the saturated region.
The study of supersaturation is also relevant to atmospheric studies. Since the 1940s, the presence of supersaturation in the atmosphere has been known. When water is supersaturated in the troposphere, the formation of ice lattices is frequently observed. In a state of saturation, the water particles will not form ice under tropospheric conditions. It is not enough for molecules of water to form an ice lattice at saturation pressures; they require a surface to condense on to or conglomerations of liquid water molecules of water to freeze. For these reasons, relative humidities over ice in the atmosphere can be found above 100%, meaning supersaturation has occurred. Supersaturation of water is actually very common in the upper troposphere, occurring between 20% and 40% of the time. This can be determined using satellite data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder.