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Researcher recounts adventure updating GNSS stations in Bangladesh

Heat and rain has caused an antenna casing to crack, filling the inside with water and causing it to stop working. (Photo: Mike Steckler)
Heat and rain has caused an antenna casing to crack, filling the inside with water and causing it to stop working. (Photo: Mike Steckler)

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The challenge of repairing GNSS stations in Bangladesh is recounted in a Nov. 6 article by Mike Steckler, a researcher with Columbia Climate School.

Steckler has been conducting research in the country for 25 years. He previously installed a continuously operating reference station (CORS) network in the southern region of the country.

Data from the network has enabled study of the tectonic motions of the Earth leading up to earthquakes. It also revealed the sinking of the land in the world’s largest delta to less than 1 mm/y.

“I still find that amazing compared to the days before GNSS became routine,” he writes. “I’ve been at sea where the crew had to use sextants to estimate our position to within 10 miles.”

Of 16 stations running in the country, only three (green) were transmitting data back to the U.S. “I have returned here once again with others to get them working again and add three new stations (white),” Steckler writes.

Steckler was joined by a team from Dhaka University to visit the sites, make repairs and install new equipment.

Read his full article at the Columbia Climate School website.

Map of Bangladesh showing the locations of Steckler's GNSS sites and regions he is visiting. The green circles are working systems, the red ones need repair, and the white ones are new. The pink circles are monuments with no active system. (Image: Mike Steckler)
Map of Bangladesh showing the locations of Steckler’s GNSS sites and regions he is visiting. The green circles are working systems, the red ones need repair, and the white ones are new. The pink circles are monuments with no active system. (Image: Mike Steckler)

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