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 magnitude Surface wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (formula_1) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements in Rayleigh surface waves that travel primarily along the uppermost layers of the Earth. It is currently used in People's Republic of China as a national standard(GB 17740-1999) for categorising earthquakes. Surface wave magnitude was initially developed in the 1950s by the same researchers who developed the local magnitude scale M in order to improve resolution on larger earthquakes: Recorded magnitudes of earthquakes during that time, commonly attributed to Richter,