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
Wind wave Wind wave In fluid dynamics, wind waves, or wind-generated waves, are surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water (like oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, canals, puddles or ponds). They result from the wind blowing over an area of fluid surface. Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. Wind waves on Earth range in size from small ripples, to waves over high. When directly generated and affected by local winds, a wind wave system is called a wind sea. After the wind ceases to blow, wind waves are called swells. More generally,