Sea ice is an important element of polar environments, particularly within the Arctic the place it covers the whole Arctic Ocean all through many of the yr. in spite of the fact that, within the context of weather swap, the Arctic sea ice hide has been declining considerably during the last many years, both by way of its focus or thickness. the ocean ice hide evolution and weather switch are strongly coupled in the course of the albedo optimistic suggestions, therefore most likely explaining the Arctic amplification of weather warming. as well as thermodynamics, sea ice kinematics (drift, deformation) looks as a vital consider the evolution of the ice conceal via a discount of the typical ice age (and accordingly of the cover's thickness), or ice export out of the Arctic. this can be a first motivation for a greater realizing of the kinematical and mechanical approaches of sea ice. A extra upstream, theoretical motivation is a greater figuring out of the brittle deformation of geophysical items throughout a variety of scales. certainly, due to its very robust kinematics, in comparison e.g. to the Earth’s crust, an unmatched kinematical info set is obtainable for sea ice from in situ (e.g. drifting buoys) or satellite tv for pc observations. right here, we evaluate the new advances within the knowing of sea ice waft, deformation and fracturing received from those information. We concentration really at the scaling homes in time and scale that represent those tactics, and we emphasize the analogies that may be drawn from the deformation of the Earth’s crust. those scaling houses, that are the signature of long-range elastic interactions in the conceal, constrain destiny advancements within the modeling of sea ice mechanics. We additionally express that kinematical and rheological variables resembling common speed, commonplace strain-rate or power have considerably replaced during the last many years, accompanying and really accelerating the Arctic sea ice decline.