Sastrugi dunes, and the resulting drifting snow shapes are also popularly referred to as "barchans". Inuit of Canada call them "kalutoqaniq". When winds slacken, the drifted formations consolidate via sublimation and recrystallization. Subsequent winds erode kalutoqaniq into the sculptured forms of sastrugi. Inuit call large sculpturings "kaioqlaq" and small ripples "tumarinyiq". Further erosion may turn "kaioqlaq" back into drifting "kalutoqaniq". An intermediate stage of erosion is "mapsuk", an overhanging shape. On the windward side of a ridge, the base erodes faster than the top, producing a shape like an anvil tip pointing upwind. Sastrugi are more likely to form on first-year
Surface wave inversion inversion theory. Since Rayleigh waves are composed of P and S-waves and Love waves are composed of only S waves, Haskell derived the elastic wave equations for both P and S-waves. These equations were modified to show Rayleigh wave motion. After assuming a free surface boundary where no stresses or strains cross, the Rayleigh wave equation is simplified. Inputting different values for layer thicknesses, densities, and elastic parameters in the form of P and S wave velocities into the equation will yield a dispersion curve. Parameters can be modified to fit the derived dispersion curve to actual data (Figure 4).