sastrugi

American  

[sas-truh-gee, sah-, sa-stroo-gee] / ˈsæs trə gi, ˈsɑ-, sæˈstru gi /

plural noun

singular

sastruga

1. hard, often rough ridges of snow formed on a snowfield by prevailing winds.

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sastrugi Scientific  

/ să-stro̅o̅′gə,sä′strə- /

1. Long, wavelike ridges of snow, formed by the wind and found on the polar plains. Sastrugi are usually up to several meters high and are often parallel to the prevailing wind direction.

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Example Sentences

After two kilometers, we arrived to find only a sastrugi ridge, pockmarked wind deformations in the icy crust.

From Salon • May 29, 2023

But the most difficult part of the journey, she said, was hauling her heavy load over sastrugi — wavelike speed bumps of snow and ice that can extend for miles.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 16, 2022

The windblown snow, called sastrugi, is exceptionally hard and jostles and tosses the snow machines with every little bump.

From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2011

Its surface ripples with undulating pressure ridges and solid, wind-hewn waves called sastrugi that move with the ice as it flows inexorably toward the sea.

From Time Magazine Archive

We were on skis, on a good surface of firn, without sastrugi, and solid—that was certain—for five or six thousand feet down.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin