Mekong River and Tonle Sap Lake Water Quality
Continuous Water Quality Monitoring at the Chaktomuk Junction and Tonle Sap Lake
Automated monitoring of water quality has been carried out using Hydrolab Datasonde 4a’s and YSI datasondes at various locations on the Mekong, Tonle Sap, and Bassac Rivers and in the Tonle Sap Lake since 2004. The parameters measured include temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, fluorescence (chlorophyll a) and turbidity at 15 minute time steps during this time. This monitoring provides data at finer temporal scales than typically is available and allows us to assess daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual system dynamics, particularly in relation to ecosystem metabolism and productivity. Such information is very important in assessing the potential impacts of future development (dams, hydropower, land use change) within the lower Mekong Basin.
Images of this research project can be viewed at http://view.buffalostate.edu/main.php?g2_itemId=36119