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Showing results for "sastrugi"

sastrugi

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

plural noun

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


sastrugi Scientific  
/ să-stro̅o̅gə,sästrə- /
  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.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

A fine example of a typical old sastruga was passed on the way.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

As the sledge strikes each sastruga, it skids northwards along it to the discomfort of the wheelers and the disgust of the leader.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

Each of us took it in turn to run ahead, jumping from one sastruga to another.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

One walks into a deep trench or a sastruga two feet high without noticing it.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

The sail was up and, while braking the load upwind, I slipped and fell, allowing the sledge to collide with a large sastruga.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

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