Dhaka and beyond
Humayuns large brand-new workplace as VC of Bangladesh Open University.
I invested the next week in Dhaka, the capital, in numerous conferences with partners and associates, restricted only by the awful Dhaka traffic. 2 occasions stick out. I took a trip north to Gazipur to stick with my associate of over 20 years and main partner in Bangladesh, S. Humayun Akhter. Last summer he became vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Open University, the 7th biggest university on the planet. The vice-chancellor is the equivalent of the university president in the U.S. as the chancellor is a ritualistic position. He now has a huge office and residence, where I remained with him.
Chris and I present with Babu, who drove us to the wedding, in our punjabis.
Humayun was welcomed by her.
Georgina in her bridal gown positioning for images.
Early the next morning, we set out for southern Bangladesh, where I will invest the rest of this journey. I now have 9 GNSS stations in this part of Bangladesh, and the batteries at all of the stations appear to have stopped working. We will alter the batteries and see if anything else is awry that could have triggered the problem. These stations are examining the subsidence of the land of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. All deltas sink due to the weight of the accumulating sediments and due to compaction of the sediments. The rate of the sinking is even greater than the rate of sea level rise, considerably exacerbating the problem in this densely-populated low lying land. Nevertheless, here the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers still bring a massive supply of sediments to fill out the recently developed area. As an outcome, Bangladesh is still getting land, however due to the moving positions of the rivers, some areas get enough sediments while others are facing problems due to a lack of sediments.
Enjoying a vehicle ferry entering the opposite instructions as we cross the Padma River t Aricha
This examination is presently supported by the Bangladesh Water Development Board as part of the “Long Term Monitoring, Research and Analysis of Bangladesh Coastal Zone (Sustainable Polders Adapted to Coastal Dynamics)”. In Bangladesh, they use the Dutch term polders for the embankments protecting seaside islands. This work is the basis for their Masters theses.
A normal scene along the “highway”. The majority of are one lane in each direction and not limited access. We share the road with trucks, buses, automobiles, autorickshaws, rickshaws, lagunas, bicycles trucks and more, continuingly passing slower cars.
We just recently published a paper on our outcomes to date here. In addition, Pinky has actually brought another female trainee with her, Tanjina Fedous Ira. Lastly, two staff members of the IWM (Institute of Water Modeling), among our partners in this project as also coming along for the land part. Sheikh (Nahid) Nahiduzzaman and Upal Mahamud, are along to be trained in our methodology and devices as part of the technology transfer part of the task. Nahid was also with us in 2019. The 2 of them will visit New York and Louisiana for further training in April
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Chris standing at the ferryboat ghat (dock) photographing us climb the Khepupara tide gauge to temporarily install a project GNSS.
There are two ferryboat crossings of the Padma River, as the combined Ganges and Brahmaputra are called, one at Mawa, south of Dhaka, and one at Aricha, near the confluence of the three rivers. Although Mawa is better and a much shorter overall drive, the chauffeurs elected to cross at Aricha due to the fact that to the heavy delays at Mawa. While, this path will be a general time conserving, we did not get to Kuakata on the coast of the Bay of Bengal until 9 pm. Stopping at Barisal University, we picked up my coworker Hasnat Jaman and one of his trainees.
We climbed up the metal structure, put the antenna at the near end of the arm holding the radar water level gauge and set up the receiver and photovoltaic panel.
Now we can begin deal with the websites. We headed back north towards Barisal stopping at 2 sites en route. Masud and Pinkys team will service the RSETs and Sanju and my team will do the GNSS websites. The RSET team is fretted about finishing all their websites and making it to Barisal, so they left at 7 am. We followed more leisurely after an 8 am breakfast. Considering that we have a project GNSS package with us, we stopped at the tide gauge near the GNSS site at Khepupara. We originally put the GNSS here to be close to the tide gauge which showed irregular and sometimes high subsidence. On my last trip here in 2019, we bonded a monolith pin to the tide gauge. Now, we will put a project GNSS here while we work on the continuous website. After a few telephone call for consent, we used a ferry boat to go to the steel structure and it set up, raising the devices by rope. GNSS recordings of the signal bouncing off the water will permit us to figure out the balanced out of the regional datum for measuring the tides from mean worldwide water level.
Sanju vigilantly dealing with the receiver at PSTU (misnamed PUST). We eventually got it repaired and working, although it took a lot longer than anticipated.
We then went to the continuous GNSS at a local weather radar station. The most likely description is that with days of cloudy and rainy weather the solar panel could not recharge the batteries. We packed up, recovered the project set from the tide gauge and headed north feeling positive.
We were the late team. Sanju and I lastly had dinner at 10 pm.
As an outcome, Bangladesh is still gaining land, but due to the moving positions of the rivers, some locations get adequate sediments while others are facing issues due to a lack of sediments.
This investigation is presently supported by the Bangladesh Water Development Board as part of the “Long Term Monitoring, Research and Analysis of Bangladesh Coastal Zone (Sustainable Polders Adapted to Coastal Dynamics)”. We originally put the GNSS here to be close to the tide gauge which showed irregular and often high subsidence. GNSS recordings of the signal bouncing off the water will enable us to identify the offset of the local datum for measuring the tides from mean worldwide sea level.
We then went to the continuous GNSS at a local weather condition radar station.