back to search results
Less Info

Loading passengers and cargo traveling between the islands at the seaward edge of the Brahmaputra Delta. This area is flooded on an almost regular basis by tropical storms, with shallow channels that magnify wind-driven storm surge. The primary crop here is rice, which can be planted only once annually when monsoon floodwaters turn the delta water fresh to irrigate the rice.

Bangladesh’s Bay of Bengal, long prone to chronic flooding, has become increasingly uninhabitable. The monsoons of 2017, which typically run from June through September, were the worst in 40 years, and more than eight million Bangladeshis were overwhelmed by the devastation. At least 140 people died, nearly 700,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and about a third of Bangladesh was submerged. An estimated 307,000 Bangladeshis became climate refugees. Because sea surface temperatures in the Bay of Bengal have increased significantly, scientists believe Bangladesh has suffered some of the fastest sea-level rises in the world. They project at least a five-foot rise by 2100, which would displace 50 million people.

Filename
STNMTZ_20170906_10383.tif
Copyright
©2017 George Steinmetz
Image Size
5176x3876 / 57.4MB
www.GeorgeSteinmetz.com
Contained in galleries
Climate Change
Loading passengers and cargo traveling between the islands at the seaward edge of the Brahmaputra Delta. This area is flooded on an almost regular basis by tropical storms, with shallow channels that magnify wind-driven storm surge. The primary crop here is rice, which can be planted only once annually when monsoon floodwaters turn the delta water fresh to irrigate the rice.<br /> <br /> Bangladesh’s Bay of Bengal, long prone to chronic flooding, has become increasingly uninhabitable. The monsoons of 2017, which typically run from June through September, were the worst in 40 years, and more than eight million Bangladeshis were overwhelmed by the devastation. At least 140 people died, nearly 700,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and about a third of Bangladesh was submerged. An estimated 307,000 Bangladeshis became climate refugees. Because sea surface temperatures in the Bay of Bengal have increased significantly, scientists believe Bangladesh has suffered some of the fastest sea-level rises in the world. They project at least a five-foot rise by 2100, which would displace 50 million people.

All images ©George Steinmetz. Please contact us for usage.