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   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   December 22, 2022 - The Weakening Pulse of Tonle Sap   
      
      Tonle Sap   
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      Cambodia’s Tonle Sap is a lake with a “pulse”, and in recent years   
   that   
      life-giving pulse has grown weaker.   
      
      During the dry season, the Tonle Sap River drains water from Tonle Sap   
      Lake and carries it to help fill the large Mekong River. In June, as   
      monsoonal rains fill the Mekong, floodwaters pour into Tonle Sap River.   
      And then the that river reverses course and pours into Tonle Sap Lake,   
      filling the lake with fresh water. This influx can easily triple the   
      size of the lake and raise the depth from roughly 2 meters (6.5 feet)   
      to 10 meters (32 feet), making Tonle Sap Asia’s largest lake and   
      freshwater fishery.   
      
      The importance of the seasonal pulse of Tonle Sap can’t be overstated.   
      The flooding creates a massive lake and large, seasonal, freshwater   
      wetlands that supports a superb fishery. The silt, nutrients, and   
      moisture deposited during the monsoonal floods also renew farmland and   
      forest. However, a series of dams along the Mekong—at least 11 were   
      functioning in 2020 with up to 24 total planned—have severely slowed   
      the seasonal inundation of Tonle Sap, with negative consequences on   
      fishing, agriculture, the ecosystem, and the livelihoods of those who   
      depend on the lake.   
      
      On December 12, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer   
      (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of   
      a nearly-full Tonle Sap (top image). The lower image is of the same   
      area and was acquired on January 16, 2001, also by Terra’s MODIS. One   
      of the most striking changes is the near-disappearance of the   
      fresh-water streams and associated floodplains and deltas around Tonle   
      Sap, especially on the northern shores of the lake. In 2001, these are   
      seen as streaks of tan cutting through green vegetation and widening to   
      v-shapes at the shoreline. In 2022, they are nearly absent.   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Terra   
      Date Acquired: 12/12/2022   
      Resolutions:  1km (96.2 KB),  500m (239.3 KB),  250m (171.6   
      KB)   
      Bands Used: 1,4,3   
      Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC   
      
      
      
   https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-12-22   
       
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