Human beings needs ice drilling technology with high efficiency and environmental protection for exploitation of research on polar resources, and thermal drilling is one of the commonly used methods. In order to improve the energy utilization of thermal drilling technology, a method of ice drilling with sonic frequency vibration is proposed in this paper. The mechanism of ice drilling by ultrasonic vibration is analyzed. Calculation of the efficiency of ultrasonic vibration ice drilling and lab tests prove that ultrasonic drilling can provide high ROP and high thermal efficiency, and be used for drilling polar ice sheets and ice shelves.