Back to Bangladesh at Last
Some of the bright green tea plants growing on the hillsides of Sylhet, the tea capital of Bangladesh.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has actually been practically two years since I was last in Bangladesh. During this time, all of the GNSS (GPS) receivers that we established in 2018 and 2019 for 2 various jobs have actually stopped working. As a result, I will be here for three and a half weeks to visit and repair them all with the help of Dhaka University graduate Sanju Singha. He has actually been vital in keeping the stations.
Opening the devices box, I could see for myself how rusty whatever was from the battery acid fumes.
The first stage of this journey is visiting our five stations in Sylhet, in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. The folds form hills whose tops are covered by forests. Over years, our GNSS stations can measure the motion of the ground down to rates of 1 mm/year or better, to much better understand the fault motion.
The stations in Sylhet have failed since the very first set of batteries we utilized leaked battery fluid. Sanju was able to change the batteries with better ones and clean the equipment box as well as he could and replace some of the parts inside.
The first stage of this trip is visiting our five stations in Sylhet, in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. The stations in Sylhet have failed because the first set of batteries we utilized leaked battery fluid. The ICPS station is on the roofing of a main school on the flank of one of the hills reached through driving on bad roads in a remote area. The 4th station, SSPS, likewise on a primary school, was vandalized by somebody to take the batteries. Our last station was also at a school.
The vibrant main school hosting one of our GPSs now has had a significant pond dug in front of it.
Sanju and I left Dhaka, the capital, on December 29 with Babu, who has actually been our driver whenever we can manage it considering that 2005. On the method to Srimongal, where we will be remaining, we stopped at our first station in Chunarughat. It is in the middle of among the valleys at a college. Now I got to see how bad things looked inside the devices box. The waterproof box kept all the dripped fluids inside and the acid fumes rusty whatever.
In Bangladesh, we often need to use intriguing ladders to get to the roof. Here, Sanju is basing on a single pole ladder.
The corrosion implied the solar panels werent providing power and the batteries were drained and destroyed. UNAVCO was able to remotely configure the new modem. The station is now up and running once again.
We headed to Srimongal and picked up Shofiqul Islam, a professor at a university in Sylhet city at the train station. Shofique invested 7 months at Lamont in 2021 working with me on the folding and thrusting of the hills in Bangladesh.
After finishing our first station of the day, we stopped for a fast lunch of newly made Shingara (samosas) being fried in pan and Mughlai (rectangles of dough with egg and veggies) that are being prepared.
The next day we headed east to service the 2 farthest stations. The ICPS station is on the roofing of a primary school on the flank of one of the hills reached through driving on bad roadways in a remote area. The roads are barely larger than our van, so passing other cars is constantly a challenge. This time, we could get the receiver working, however were missing a key cable television linking the receiver to the modem. Without a replacement, we needed to leave it without a having the ability to transfer the information. It is recording the data internally. On my next trip, I will bring the needed parts and Sanju will finish the repair work.
At this culvert, we had to use bricks on the roadway so the van might cross it.
We took a route to the JURI station on the other side of the hill. Rather of walking around the hill, we crossed it through the tea gardens and after that an eco park. This station remains in a medical clinic. They would like us to move the receiver out of the birthing room, but this will have to happen on another trip. This time the modem was ok and after the repair work, JURI is back online. The problem at this station is that trees growing around the center are blocking antennas view of the sky. This has been a problem at this station prior to. Betel nut trees are partly blocking the view to the north, but the worst is a tree whose branches overhand the antenna. Sanju will need to speak with the center director next week about lowering, or a minimum of trimming, the trees. Taking a look at the previous information from the website, I can see the recent information has to do with three times less precise than the older information.
Having tea and cookies in the house of Adusalam (left) with Sanju (center) and Babu (right).
The 4th station, SSPS, also on a primary school, was vandalized by somebody to take the batteries. A 6th site had actually to be gotten rid of since they expanded the school it was on, including a brand-new flooring where our antenna was installed. We installed the KGPS receiver in place of SSPS, however moved the box to inside the school in a safe and secure stockroom.
After finishing, we had tea and cookies, along with some hard-boiled eggs that Sanju bought from a close-by shop, in the mud and bamboo home of the head of the school upkeep committee. Then, for New Years Eve, we picked up an afternoon snack at a fancy resort with its own tea garden followed by tea at a regional tea shack. The contrast in design and cost stood out.
We celebrated New Years Eve by stopping at a beautiful resort for a walk and snacks.
Our last station was likewise at a school. It is on the top of the hill closest to Srimongal, the tea capital of Bangladesh. The repair work were comparable, except for a mix-up about the photovoltaic panel that cost us time. We are now on our method back to Dhaka. While we existed, the school kids got here to get brand-new books for New Years Day. We have repaired all five GNSS stations and brought back remote data transfer at three of them– total, a pretty successful very first stage of my trip. Now I will spend the next week in Dhaka, culminating in attending a Bangladeshi wedding event prior to heading south to go to 9 more stations by cars and truck and boat.
I was amazed to see kids and moms and dads at the school on New Years Day. Here, all the children get new books to mark the brand-new year.
The data from these stations are assisting to fine-tune our price quotes of the rate at which subduction is occurring. The longer the time series of the information from the GNSS websites, the more accurate the estimate of the subduction rate and overall tectonics.