A dense accumulation of frazil (or lolly ice); an early stage in the freezing of a body of water. (Also called slush.) The sea surface becomes thick and soupy and sometimes greasy in appearance. Sludg
e depth seldom exceeds one foot.
Snow or firn mixed with an amount of liquid water equaling or exceeding that required to fill the voids; soaked snow. Slush avalanches ('slushflows') can be a significant means of downslope transfer o
f mass, and hence of accelerating ablation by melting because of the increase of temperature with decreasing altitude.
Sea ice terminology describing snow which is saturated and mixed with water on land, on ice surfaces, or as a thick floating mass in water, after a heavy snowfall.
A mudflow-like outburst of water-saturated, i.e., soaked snow (see slush, mfsl), often along a stream course. Commonly occurring after rainfall and/or intense thawing have produced more water than can
drain through the snow. A flowing mixture of snow and water.