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GPS in Khulna and the Hidden Temple

Allan walking on the embankment, or polder.  The land on the river side (left) is about a meter higher than on the inside of the polder.
Allan walking on the embankment, or polder. The land on the river side (left) is about a meter higher than on the inside of the polder (right).

When we got cell phone signal back, we found things did not go according to plan. Scott’s flight had a medical emergency that required a stop in London, so he missed his connection. So did the GPS box, so they both arrived the morning of the 18th.  He was not in Khulna already working. He wasn’t working on the compaction site. Between the flight delays and the ship delays, we had lost a day.

Since I couldn’t meet Scott, it was best for me to go to Polder 32 to check on the GPS there. However, not knowing the situation, we had sailed up the wrong channel. We wouldn’t get to the Polder 32 site until the afternoon. Polder is a Dutch term for an embankment. They have been built around much of the land in coastal Bangladesh to protect it from flooding from the brackish water and

Soyee with some of the local women and their water jugs on Polder 32.
Soyee with some of the local women and their water jugs on Polder 32.

improve farming. An unexpected side effect is that the protected land inside the polder, with no flooding or sediments, has sunk by over a meter. It is lower than the land outside the wall and lower than high tide. When Cyclone Aila hit the area in 2009, it breached the polder and the island was flooded for almost two years. We are studying both the physical environment and the human impact. My part is measuring the subsidence with GPS. The receiver here has a modem so the data can be collected by phone, but it hasn’t worked since Jan. 1. We went to the school that houses it, and I managed to correct the problem.

Mr Islam serves Scott and myself more of the delicious lunch they had prepared.  Eaten with our hands, of course.
Mr Islam serves Scott and myself more of the delicious lunch they had prepared. Eaten with our hands, of course.

Now it was time to join Scott. I left the boat for a bumpy 2.5-hour drive to Khulna and the hotel. We had allotted two days for servicing and installing GPS in Khulna, but we also wanted to visit a 400-year-old temple in the Sundarbans. It is being looked at to measure subsidence since it was built. We could only visit the temple if we could do the GPS work in one day. We started a 7 a.m., picking up Hafizur and heading to his family’s house, where the compaction meter is.  We hoped to finish it quickly, but there were problems with the GPS. The solar panel controller was bad and had to be replaced. Then I found the settings of the GPS were bad; I couldn’t communicate with it. After a struggle, I managed.  The system went bad last June and had recorded no data since then. Scott collected data from the compaction meter and surveyed the monuments, while

Scott adjusting the GPS antenna at the new Khulna site, working into the night.
Scott adjusting the GPS antenna at the new Khulna site, working into the night.

I got the GPS going again.  When it was time to leave, we found that the Islamic family had prepared a huge lunch for us, and we had to stay and eat: sweet rice appetizer, two kinds of fish, chicken, vegetable, rice and a rice pastry in palm juice for dessert.

When we left to go to Khulna University (KU), our chance for the temple looked bleak. We met Professor Rakib Uddin, who did not get our sense of urgency.  The GPS at KU hadn’t been working for years. Set up in the Urban Planning Department, the 20-year-old receiver needed constant care to keep going. We had installed these obsolete instruments when we first started working in Bangladesh and had almost no funding. We would be reestablishing the site, replacing everything.

Scott falls asleep on the M/V Mowali sailing to join everyone on the larger ship after a very long and successful day.
Scott falls asleep on the M/V Mowali sailing to join everyone on the larger ship after a very long and successful day.

Then we would install a new receiver in Rakib’s office in Environmental Sciences. As long as we had some overlap of the two receivers, we could combine the measurements for a longer record. After various formalities, we went to the office. We would need to buy some extra equipment, but the professor had to leave. We called everyone to say we could not do the temple. Then Rakib got the professor to leave the key so we could keep working. It was now a maybe. We arranged for the forest permits not knowing if we could use them. Allan and Towfique went shopping while Scott and I did what we could. By the time they got back and we finished, with multiple time-stealing problems along the way, it was dark. Rakib stayed late and Scott and I rushed to install the new GPS. The new ones are easier to work with, but

Sailing up a small channel to the Shakher Temple with our armed guards and a local fisherman guide (at prow).
Sailing up a small channel to the Shakher Temple with our armed guards and a local fisherman guide (at prow).

everything takes time. By the time we finished it was almost 9 p.m.

We rushed to the hotel and packed overnight bags. Bachchu’s other boat, the Mowali, would take us to the Bawali. We left at 10 p.m. after less than 24 hours in Khulna. It took 4 hours to reach the Bawali west of Polder 32. It was 2 a.m., but we made it. No dinner, but a chance to see the only Hindu Temple in the Sundarban. With two armed guards for tigers and a local guide, we sailed to a small channel south of the temple and took the launch to go into the forest. The channel got smaller, with branches occasionally sweeping across the boat. We got stuck, but the tide was rising. Then we had a long hike through the muddy forest, across a log bridge and more mud.

Dan crossing the log bridge on the way to the temple with helpers holding up a railing.
Dan crossing the log bridge on the way to the temple with helpers holding up a railing.

Finally we got there. After examining the temple, we decided more work was needed before we accepted the low subsidence rate estimated for the site. We also visited the rubble of the home for the local community and their protective wall. They were sent here to protect the region from Arakan and Portuguese pirates. They were the ones who built the Shakher temple. We could head back down the channel and return to Khulna on the Bawali. Despite all the problems, we had accomplished all of our goals for this part of the trip.

The group that made the trek to the temple pose in front of the ruins of the house (bari) that the people lived in.
The group that made the trek to the temple pose in front of the ruins of the house (bari) that the people lived in.
The ruins of the ~400 year old Shakher Temple to the Hindu goddess Kali.
The ruins of the ~400 year old Shakher Temple to the Hindu goddess Kali.
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john morgan
9 years ago

Perhaps this PDF can help you measuring subsidence with GPS:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri024239/wrir024239.book.pdf

Rana
Rana
5 years ago

Can you please share the gps location?