Extensive da mage to ice occ urs during ice-structure interac ti o n by microc racking, recrystalli zati o n a nd melting, Th e obj ecti ve of this wo rk was to investigate this da m a ge process unde r confin ed-stress conditi o ns beli eved to bc assoc ia ted with impact zo nes th a t occ ur durin g ice-structure inte r ac ti on, "Da m age" refers to mi c ros truc tura l mod ifi cati o n th at causes d e teriorati on o f the m ee ha nica l prope rti es, Prior exp erimental work h as shown that a sm a ll a mo unt of defo rm a ti on causes pe rm a nent da mage in ice, leading to e nh a nced creep ra tes during subsequc nt load ing, To investigate thi s soft ening, fr es hwater g ra nul a r ice was defo rmed under m od era te confineme nt (20 :'IiPa ) a t -10°C, a t two rates which brac ket duc ti le a nd brittl e beh avio r (10 2 s I a nd 10 + s I). Sa mples were deform ed to different level s of ax ial strain up to 28,8% , Thin sec tio ns we re exam i ned to assess the prog ressive cha nges in microstructure, Bo th g ra in-bound a ry a nd intra-g ra nul a r c rac king began a t strains co rrespond ing to th e peak stress (1-2% ) fo r tests at both stra in ra tes. The peak stresses we re 23.4 MPa for the tests a t 10 2 S I a nd 9.8 MPa for th e tes ts a t 10 + s I, At strains of > 1-2%, d e n se elusters of intra-g ra nul a r crac ks b ega n to develop in th e samples tes ted a t the highe r ra te, At th e lower ra te, d yna mic rec rys ta lli zati on was a ppa rently the do min a nt defo rm a ti o n m eeha nism b eyo nd the pea k stress. The a\' C rage g r a in-size decreased stro ngly during th e fi rst few per ce nt stra in a nd then m a intained a rela tivel y stabl e va lue.