The Morphology of Riverine Chars

This chapter provides an overview of the char dynamics of the Jamuna and Padma rivers in Bangladesh, which are part of the Lower Brahmaputra River. Riverine chars are major morphological elements and together with number and size of channels determine the river characteristics, for example, with respect to navigability, flooding, and riverbank erosion. The char dynamics have created a very distinct culture with the lives of the potentially two million char people being much different from the life on the stable floodplains. During the last half-century, chars became very short-lived, particularly in the Brahmaputra/Jamuna, which impacted the lives of the char dwellers. On the positive side, the overall widening of the river corridor increased the char area significantly, however at the cost of floodplain land and the population there. The systematic study of char dynamics became possible with the development of satellite imagery from the end of the 1960s. Increasing resolution and regular annual imagery helped much to understand the interaction between chars and river channels and how their vertical buildup above low water levels influences land use and eventually settlement patterns.