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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
From a couple sites about Polar regions. Long parallel ridges in the snow formed by wind action.
No clue as to etymology. Not a spellingbee word. From article in TIME.
"It surface ripples with undulati;ng pressure ridges and solid wind hewn waves called sasturgi......"
Definition: zastruga, var. sastruga. sastruga (__________). Also zastruga; chiefly as pl. sastrugi (__). [a. G. sastruga, f. dial. Russ. zastrúga small ridge, furrow, f. zastrugát to plane, smooth, f. strug plane.] One of a series of irregular ridges formed on a snow surface by wind erosion and deposition, aligned parallel to the direction of the prevailing wind. 1840 E. J. Sabine tr. von Wrangell’s Narr. Exped. Polar Sea vii. 146 We were guided by the wave-like stripes of snow (sastrugi) which are formed, either on the plains on land or on the level ice of the sea, by any wind of long continuance. Ibid. 147 It often happens that the true permanent sastruga has been obliterated by another produced by temporary winds. 1878 E. L. Moss Shores of Polar Sea vi. 42 The sloping shore hills are barred with ‘sastrugi’–wind-made ridges of snow–but the abrupt scooped-out rifts between them are smothered over with fleecy powder in gentle undulations.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
So would sastrugi also apply to the same effect on sand and sand dunes?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Not unless a Russian saw them.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
It would be good to see a photograph of these sastrugi...I'll go goggling on google.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear WW: They aren't spectacular, The magazine article had a picture of them. I'm reminded of another word I posted about a long time ago. There is a German word for stairs "Treppen" that in Norwegian version is used to describe huge successive lava flows which look like round steps. Look up "Siberian Traps". And there was the word "treppenwitz" the clever retort that doesn't come to you until your on the stairs leaving a party, too late http://www.johnj.com/pole00/image_html/image_roll208_res20_Img0060.htmlA picture of ststrugi, plus a sundog. Not very impressive. to use it.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
What's a sun dog?
I wish I could look it up, but I'm here at school in between classes and only have a second to peek in.
Are all those lines across the photographs sastrugi? They're not much to comment on, are they? But nice word.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
A sundog is the small circular prism-like rainbow you see in the sky at the top of the picture.
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