ARCHER2 Calendar May 2026

Pathways of freshwater in the Ganges delta

Katie Lee and Dr Lucy Bricheno, National Oceanography Centre

These maps show pathways which freshwater takes through the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta in Bangladesh and India. A lagrangian particle tracking approach was used to track waters released in the red area at the far north of the domain, then allowed to travel freely down the network of river channels.

The top row is from the 'wet season' in September, and the bottom row is for the 'dry season' in March. The fast flows in the wet season are seen to wash particles rapidly down the delta, forming a freshwater plume offshore. In the dry season, slower flows mean the particles do not travel so far.

The numerical models generating the underlying current velocity data were generated by a configuration of FVCOM run on ARCHER2.

This image was published on the May page of the ARCHER2 2026 printed calendar.