Location: Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
2205 Commonwealth Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2945
Date: Tuesday, April 11th, 2000
Time: 10:00am-11:00am
Room: 105 (Main Conference Room)
Four problems related to coastal management in the Bay of Bengal will be discussed:
- Owing to the inaccurate prediction of the arrival time and characteristics of cyclones and storm surges, about 400,000 and 140,000 people respectively died in the 1970 and the 1991 cyclones on the Bay of Bengal. In fact, storm surges resulting from cyclones frequently visit Bangladesh, kill hundreds of people and cause heavy damages.
- Having a vast area of 0.0 m to 1.0 m elevation, Bangladesh is very much susceptible to sea level rises. P. Bruun (1992) estimated that a 1.0 m rise of sea level would inundate 10 percent of total area of Bangladesh. Global warming will intensify the power of cyclones, and storm surges are expected to appear with higher peaks.
- In Bangladesh, arsenic contamination of the ground water extracted through tube wells for drinking purposes is a major concern. The flora and fauna of the Bay of Bengal may consume a portion of the arsenic. The colloidal sediment carried by the rivers may be a major conveyor of the arsenic from the sources.
- The Meghna estuary is one of the largest sediment conveying estuaries in the world. Management of sediment to build new lands in the vast and shallow coastal zones could be a solution to that highly populated country.
For further information, please contact:
David Schwab
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
2205 Commonwealth Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2945
734-741-2120
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/news/seminars/2000/as-salek.html