For selection of pipeline burial depths in the Arctic seas it is necessary to know the distribution of pressure ridges and icebergs penetration depths, into the sea bottom. This paper considers a method of calculation for the determination of this distribution. The method is based on computer simulation of pressure ridge penetration into soils using the Monte Carlo method. This method is especially useful for a seabed with loose soils and was used for the Northern Sakhalin offshore conditions. The main feature of the method is the application of field kinematic and morphological, parameters of pressure ridges. To specify distribution of pressure ridge penetration depths into sea bottom the method using the pressure ridges thermo drilling data is suggested. The distribution parameters obtained for Northern Sakhalin offshore conditions nearly corresponds to the Beaufort Sea offshore data.
Pressure ridges and icebergs are very dangerous for a pipeline in the Arctic seas because they can damage the pipeline while contacting the sea bottom. A basic method to prevent it is pipeline burying into sea bottom. The selection of buried depth should be correlated with the distribution of the pressure ridge and iceberg penetration depth into seabottom [Pilkington, 1983]. The most wide-Spread method for getting distribution data is the study of scour depths on the sea bottom. This method was broadly used in the Beaufort Sea where the sea bottom survey was done by active sonar and sideways-looking sonars. But this method does not work at loose bottom because of the scour washout. For this reason computer simulation was used for the determination of the depth of the pressure ridge penetration into the sea bottom on the Northern Sakhalin offshore. There are no icebergs in the Okhotsk Sea and the term "pressure ridge" will be used below.
