Very hard snow slab that has been eroded by wind to form sharp ridges and anvil-shaped protrusions that point toward the wind.
A raised wave of snow or ice found in polar regions
Sharp irregular ridges formed on a snow surface by wind erosion and deposition. On drift ice the ridges are parallel to the direction of the prevailing wind at the time they were formed.
wind scours dry snow into hard, wavelike patterns that can make skiing difficult
more info Wind eroded snow, which often looks rough as if it were sandblasted. Usually found on windward slopes.
skier's term for snow that has melted into breaking waves from the sun
Irregular ridges of snow on a small scale (rarely more than 1 foot, 30cm) that lie parallel to the direction of the wind. Sastrugi can make travel very awkward or difficult, they can be quite soft or as hard as ice.
complex, fragile shapes of snow on top of sea ice that resemble sand dunes; they form parallel to the prevailing wind direction; sastrugi can also form on snow cover over land. Sastrugi at South Pole Station, Antarctica. (Photo courtesy of Fred Walton, NOAA Corps Collection.)
Sharp irregular ridges formed on a snow surface by wind erosion and deposition. The ridges are parallel to the direction of the prevailing wind. The Russian word (zastrugi) is a collective noun and lacks a singular form. An individual ridge in a field of sastrugi has been called a sastruga in some English-language articles.