TITLE:
Sundarban as a Buffer against Storm Surge Flooding
AUTHORS:
Mohiuddin Sakib, Fatin Nihal, Anisul Haque, Munsur Rahman, Mansur Ali
KEYWORDS:
Buffer, Mangrove Forest, Sidr, Landfall, Roughness
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Engineering and Technology,
Vol.3 No.3C,
October
22,
2015
ABSTRACT: Sundarban, the largest mangrove forest in
the world, is known to act as a buffer against the cyclone and storm surge.
Theoretically, Sundarban absorbs the initial thrust of the wind and acts to
“resist” the storm surge flooding. The role of Sundarban was evident during the
cyclone Sidr when the Sundarban solely defended the initial thrust of the
cyclonic wind and the resulting storm surge inundation. In doing this,
Sundarban sacrificed 30% of its plant habitats. Although no scientific study
has yet been conducted, it is generally believed that Sundarban will
continuously play its role as a buffer against the cyclone when landfall of the
cyclone is at or close to the Sundarban. Considering these facts, the present
study mainly focused on a scientific insight into the role of Sundarban as a
buffer against the present-day cyclone and storm surge and also its probable
role on the impacts of future storms of similar nature but with different landfall
locations. The Delft 3D dashboard and flow model are applied to compute the
resulting inundation due to cyclone induced storm surge. The results show that
Sundarban indeed acts as a buffer against the storm surge inundation when
cyclone landfall is at or close to Sundarban.