Sea ice can execute direct mechanical, thermal and physical-chemical impact on the coasts and bottom. Among these processes, the most dangerous is ice gouging - mechanical destruction of bottom grounds by sea ice, connected with ice cover dynamics, hummocks and stamukhi formation under the influence of the hydrometeorologie factors and topography of the coastal zone. In the last two decades,
... [Show full abstract] exploration of carbohydrate reserves was reactivated within the Northern Caspian Sea region. It includes the planning, design and construction of stationary drilling platforms, underwater pipelines, and other objects of oil and gas infrastructure. For the development of underwater pipelines in freezing seas, reliable assessment of the intensity of the ice hummocky formations' impact on the bottom is necessary; the depths of their penetration into the bottom grounds should be known. In connection to this, the assessment of the ice impact, which can be referred to the category of dangerous processes, is a key element for the geo-technical safety of oil and gas objects, as well as for the ecological safety of the water area. In the present work, features of ice cover dynamics and its impact on the seabed for the northern Caspian Sea are observed. Their main particularity is great interannual and centennial variability. The temperature regime of the cold season determines the conditions and the number of ice hummocks in the ice cover, and therefore influences the intensity of the ice impact on the shores and bottom. With all the other ice forming conditions being equal, current sea level position is an important factor, determining the intensity of ice gouging process. Fluctuations of the sea level reaching several meters during the expected functioning period of the hydrotechnical facilities can lead to significant depth changes and sea bottom relief rework and can accordingly change the conditions of ice hummocks' forming and of the ice gouging of the bottom and snores. At present, the question of the intensity of the ice cover impact on the bottom of the Northern Caspian Sea remains open and requires a solution. The difficulty of the problem is determined, on the one hand, by the lack of studies of the ice cover interaction with the bottom grounds of the Northern Caspian, and, on the other hand, by the complexity of the problems to solve and high variability of the sea level and ice cover extent of the Caspian Sea.
