Record Flood Measurements

[phaethon]

Outside the National Museum is a little-noticed monument marking high-water levels for historic floods. When I took the picture I didn't think too much about the numbers and scale marked on it, but on closer examination, I can't make sense of them:

B.E. 2485 (C.E.1942) 37.500

B.E. 2521 (C.E.1978) 37.130

B.E. 2526 (C.E.1983) 37.000

From the overall size I assumed metres, but surely this can't represent 37+ metres above sea-level.

Maybe those are not decimal points and 1983 is an arbitrary baseline, 1978 and 1942 being 13 and 50 cm higher. If so, what does the 37 represent?

Or is it not metric, but some archaic Thai system? If so, the zero is a long way below sea-level. Or maybe it marks the MRT platform level, or a secret bunker...?

Edited November 11, 2011 by phaethon

[ExpatOilWorker]

Cool picture and thanks for posting it.

I don't have an answer for your "37" question, but since all the sinister "experts" are predicting that Bangkok is sinking, that pillar must be sinking also, so we should be seeing some new records in the future.

[canuckamuck]

Could it be feet?

[phaethon]

Could it be feet?

Barbaric Iron-Age Feet don't correspond with the scale visible on the side adjacent to the inscriptions. The area in which the pillar is situated is between 0 and 1m above sea level, or not much more than 3 BIAF let alone 37.

It would be very disappointing if a modern, civilized, metric nation like this would use BIAF.

Edited November 11, 2011 by phaethon

[Tywais]

Centimeters? That is what most flood heights are measured by at bridges, etc.