AbstractTo study crack dynamics in sea ice fast measurements of ice electrical resistance and an electromagnetic emission (EME) from cracks were used. The sample dimensions ranged from 0.05 to 30 meters. In a laboratory grown fresh water ice crack velocities varied from a few hundreds to a thousand meters per second while in the natural sea ice crack velocity was very low, about 10 m/s. This remarkable difference in the crack velocities is likely due to the dynamic resistance of unfrozen water in brine pockets and channels and to the high ductility of sea ice. It was found that the cracks propagate in ice discontinuously owing to the strong interaction with such microstructural elements as liquid inclusions and grain boundaries. The high sensitivity of the method allowed to detect nucleation of very first microcracks.