State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Geohazards in Bangladesh3

  • Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    We continued our electromagnetic expedition to image fresh and saline groundwater into the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, the world’s largest. While guards protected us from tigers, it was a wild boar that dug up some of our equipment.

  • Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    I am back in Bangladesh to explore the distribution of fresh and saline groundwater in the coastal zone, needed for drinking in the dry season.

  • Into the Sundarban Mangrove Forest and Back

    Into the Sundarban Mangrove Forest and Back

    For the last week of our trip, we traveled by boat to reach the sites where we are measuring subsidence in the Sundarban Mangrove Forest and nearby embanked islands.

  • From Barisal to Khulna

    From Barisal to Khulna

    We continued to service our GNSS and RSET-MH equipment measuring land subsidence in coastal Bangladesh. Long distances, poor roads and slow ferries made for very long days, but we were able to complete the work at the sites.

  • Dhaka and Beyond

    Dhaka and Beyond

    After a week of meetings and a wedding in Dhaka, we headed back to the field to service equipment measuring land subsidence in Bangladesh.

  • Back to Bangladesh at Last

    Back to Bangladesh at Last

    I am finally back in Bangladesh after a pandemic hiatus. I need to repair precision GPSs that failed over the last few years. They are measuring tectonic movements for earthquake hazard and land subsidence, which exacerbates sea level rise.

  • Completing My Fieldwork and Returning to Dhaka

    Completing My Fieldwork and Returning to Dhaka

    My last days in the field brought us to monuments in a makeshift home near the ocean, a flooded field next to a school, and adjacent to a jute mill. Most of us now head back to Dhaka, the capital. Céline will stay on a few more days, then Hasnat with Saif and Nahin will…

  • Long Days in the Field in Southern Bangladesh

    Long Days in the Field in Southern Bangladesh

    We continued our GPS surveys of monuments to measure land subsidence. While the work general went very well, we faced challenges from obscured or tilted monuments. We also struggled with large traffic delays, particularly at unpredictable ferry crossings.

  • Installing GPS Around Barisal, Bangladesh

    Installing GPS Around Barisal, Bangladesh

    Getting to remote sites started to prove challenging, and involved many forms of transportation by land and water.

  • Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    We continued our electromagnetic expedition to image fresh and saline groundwater into the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, the world’s largest. While guards protected us from tigers, it was a wild boar that dug up some of our equipment.

  • Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    I am back in Bangladesh to explore the distribution of fresh and saline groundwater in the coastal zone, needed for drinking in the dry season.

  • Into the Sundarban Mangrove Forest and Back

    Into the Sundarban Mangrove Forest and Back

    For the last week of our trip, we traveled by boat to reach the sites where we are measuring subsidence in the Sundarban Mangrove Forest and nearby embanked islands.

  • From Barisal to Khulna

    From Barisal to Khulna

    We continued to service our GNSS and RSET-MH equipment measuring land subsidence in coastal Bangladesh. Long distances, poor roads and slow ferries made for very long days, but we were able to complete the work at the sites.

  • Dhaka and Beyond

    Dhaka and Beyond

    After a week of meetings and a wedding in Dhaka, we headed back to the field to service equipment measuring land subsidence in Bangladesh.

  • Back to Bangladesh at Last

    Back to Bangladesh at Last

    I am finally back in Bangladesh after a pandemic hiatus. I need to repair precision GPSs that failed over the last few years. They are measuring tectonic movements for earthquake hazard and land subsidence, which exacerbates sea level rise.

  • Completing My Fieldwork and Returning to Dhaka

    Completing My Fieldwork and Returning to Dhaka

    My last days in the field brought us to monuments in a makeshift home near the ocean, a flooded field next to a school, and adjacent to a jute mill. Most of us now head back to Dhaka, the capital. Céline will stay on a few more days, then Hasnat with Saif and Nahin will…

  • Long Days in the Field in Southern Bangladesh

    Long Days in the Field in Southern Bangladesh

    We continued our GPS surveys of monuments to measure land subsidence. While the work general went very well, we faced challenges from obscured or tilted monuments. We also struggled with large traffic delays, particularly at unpredictable ferry crossings.

  • Installing GPS Around Barisal, Bangladesh

    Installing GPS Around Barisal, Bangladesh

    Getting to remote sites started to prove challenging, and involved many forms of transportation by land and water.