Drilling operations in polar regions and mountainous areas are complicated by nature of the extreme environment． Yet conventional rotary drilling technologies can be used to drill ice for scientific samples and oth- er research． Due to such reasons as power consumption and weight complications，it is hard to apply a conven- tional rotary drilling rig for glacial exploration． Use of small，relatively lightweight，portable engine- powered drilling systems in which the drill lifting from the borehole is carried by the winch． It is reasonable enough for near- surface shallow ice- drilling down to 50 m． Such systems can be used for near- surface ablation- stakes in- stallation，also temperature measurements at the bottom of active strata layer，revealing of anthropogenic pollu- tion，etc． The specified used in this research is an auger ice drill powered by a gasoline engine． At this stage， it is crucial to choose effective drilling parameters such as weight on bit (WOB) and drill bit rotation rate． Sen- sors equipped on the rig have measured the main parameters of the drilling process，such as drill speed，WOB， drill rotation speed，torque and temperature． This paper addresses research on drilling parameters of engine powered auger ice drill and supplies some recommendations for optimization of any ice- core drilling process．