IMPACT OF ENSO ON WATER DISCHARGE AND SEDIMENT LOAD IN LOWER MEKONG RIVER

Tóm tắt

The Mekong River is the second largest river basin in Southeast Asia and strongly influenced by climate change. This paper was based on high temporal resolution of water discharge and suspended sediment concentration at Can Tho and My Thuan stations during the 2009-2016 period, showed that the water discharge and sediment supplies by the Mekong strongly varied, and influenced by ENSO events (El Nino Southern Oscillation). Our results obtained showed that during the La Niña event (2010-2011), water supply increased by about 30% and the sediment supply by 55%. In contrast, during the El Niño event (2015-2016) the water supply decreased by 20% and the sediment supply by 50%. Finally, the present water discharge of the Mekong River to the sea can be estimated to be 400km³/yr, ±100km³/yr and the present sediment supply to the sea can be estimated to be 40 Mt/yr, ±20 Mt/yr, depending on ENSO events.