The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg was contracted to go through their databases and reports and compile a report. The first part of the report describes briefly the different forms of ice compression and the factors that influence it. The second part describes the present means to identify ice compression. Ice compression is normally divided into categories, based on their origins. The most common method to identify ice compression is to study the behaviour of the channel behind the ship and the interaction between the ice and the hull of the ship.
Wind is by far the most important cause of ice compression.
The present means of observing ice compression are briefly presented and found inadequate. In the Russian database the ice compression is expressed with the help of a 0-3 ball scale. It is not possible to directly link this ball scale to the actual stresses in the ice field. The obvious continuation to this investigation is to find a way to relate the readings of the ball scale to physically defined measures, such as stresses in the ice field or forces exerted on ships and structures. Model tests in ice are considered the most cost efficient way to proceed.