In 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton joined the 

Foreign Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam 

in launching the Lower Mekong Initiative to enhance U.S. 

engagement with the countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin 

in the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure. 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Forecast Mekong supports 

the Lower Mekong Initiative through a variety of activities. The 

principal objectives of Forecast Mekong include the following:

•	 Build scientific capacity in the Lower Mekong Basin and

promote cooperation and collaboration among scientists 

working in the region.

•	 Provide data, information, and scientific models to help

resource managers there make informed decisions.

•	 Produce forecasting and visualization tools to support 

basin planning, including climate change adaptation.

The focus of this product is Forecast Mekong accomplishments 

and current activities related to the development of scientific

capacity at organizations and institutions in the region. Building 

on accomplishments in 2010 and 2011, Forecast Mekong 

continues to enhance scientific capacity in the Lower Mekong

Basin with a suite of activities in 2012. 

General Information Product 144

Forecast Mekong 2012: Building Scientific Capacity

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
Capacity Building Accomplishments in 2010 and 2011

Forecast Mekong capacity building accomplishments in 2010 and 

2011 included providing the following:

•	 technical support to study persistent organic pollutants

•	 a USGS groundwater scientist to the Mekong

River Commission

•	 two geospatial scientists to Can Tho University, Vietnam

•	 training courses on sediment transport, sediment sampling,

and lab sediment analysis

•	 workshops on wetlands mapping, Web-based mapping, 

geographic information systems, and remote sensing

•	 workshops and capacity building on data integration

and databases

Suggested citation:

Stefanov, J.E., 2012, Forecast Mekong 2012—Building scientific capacity: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 144, 8 p.
Capacity Building Activities in 2012

Mekong River Basin Fisheries 

In February 2012, the USGS and partnering organizations 

conducted a workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to seek 

consensus on Mekong River fish-sampling protocol and datasharing schemes. Outcomes of the workshop, organized as 

the Mekong Fish Monitoring Network, included agreement to 

develop and share a Web-based fish database and implement

pilot fish collections with shared protocols in Vietnam and

Laos. A 2012 fish monitoring data collection pilot project will

be led by network members seeking to implement the shared 

protocols by continued training of villagers and students and 

collecting additional fish data from creel (catch of individual

fishers) and market surveys. Future priorities include

conducting repeated samples in specific habitat sites to allow

for statistical analysis more robust than past analyses that 

did not include occupancy analysis of habitat use by fish and

remote tracking of fish by using telemetry.
Hydrographic Surveying

The USGS will perform multibeam echosounder (MBES) sonar 

hydrographic surveys at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonlé Sap,

and Bassac Rivers near Phnom Penh. The MBES survey will map the 

riverbed by producing a high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) digital 

dataset. Acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements will be used

to determine river discharge and associated velocity vectors at selected 

locations during the hydrographic survey, and a real-time kinematic 

Global Positioning System unit will be used to provide elevation and 

positioning for the survey. A major objective of the hydrographic 

survey is to provide MBES survey training for technical staff from 

the Mekong River Commission and agencies of its member countries. 

Representatives of each organization will rotate on and off the survey 

vessel to ensure that all partners receive MBES survey training. Selected 

Mekong River Commission staff involved in the MBES survey will 

receive data-processing training in the United States. 
Graphic Visualization Tool

A graphic visualization tool (GVT) produced in 2012 in cooperation 

with the Mekong River Commission will optimize output from basinscale hydrology models by combining high-resolution 3-D bathymetric 

data from 2012 USGS hydrographic surveys on the Mekong River and 

accompanying tributaries to produce a video containing visualizations 

and virtual animations of complex riverbed environments and flow

dynamics. The GVT will also illustrate potential influences of dams on

downstream water conditions and riverbed structures that ultimately 

could affect riverine fisheries and flood-plain ecosystems. All GVTs

are being developed to facilitate future integration into other decision 

framework tools and basin-scale models that will evaluate potential 

cumulative impacts of existing and proposed tributary and main-stem 

dams. Staff from the Mekong River Commission will receive training in 

the United States on the development of the GVT.
Community-Based Salinity Monitoring

Can Tho University and the USGS are developing a 

novel approach to monitoring salinity intrusion in the 

Mekong Delta that uses a network of local university 

students and farmers to collect water salinity data. 

Salinity measurements will be transmitted from 

the field via text messaging directly into a realtime data integration and Web mapping application 

developed by Can Tho University and the USGS. The 

USGS is providing technical assistance to computer 

programmers and ecologists at Can Tho University to 

transfer the Web-based technology to the university. 

Timely access to water salinity data for local farmers 

can help them adapt to changing salinity levels 

by using methods such as adjusting rice cropping 

calendars or planting salt-tolerant rice varieties.
Basin-Scale Water Quality Modeling Workshop

The USGS is planning for a 2012 workshop to introduce 

scientists and engineers from the Mekong River 

Commission and Can Tho University to a basin-scale 

water quality model now widely used in the United 

States and New Zealand. The modeling technique, 

known as SPAtially Referenced Regressions On 

Watershed Attributes (SPARROW), could provide a tool 

to map sources of contaminants to streams throughout 

the entire Mekong Basin and track contaminants as they 

move downstream, possibly affecting water quality in 

the Mekong Delta region. Because of the multinational 

character of the Mekong Basin, initial SPARROW model 

calibrations could serve as a consistent framework that 

could be used by all Mekong Basin nations to identify 

information needs and facilitate improved understanding 

of water quality conditions in the watershed as a whole.
Scientific Exchange

The USGS National Wetlands Research Center will host a 

researcher from Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh 

City from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 

for a 6-week scientific exchange visit in June 2012. The

visiting researcher has extensive experience in environmental 

conservation and development projects, ecological monitoring, 

avian ecology, and biodiversity research. This type of scientific

exchange will help scientists in Southeast Asia apply the latest 

scientific research methods and remote-sensing and geographic

information systems technology to environmental conservation 

in the Mekong Basin. The visiting researcher’s role as a lecturer 

at Vietnam National University provides a mechanism to 

transfer the knowledge and capabilities he gains during his visit 

to students and other scientists working in the region.

For more information, contact

James Stefanov

Forecast Mekong Coordinator

jestefan@usgs.gov

Publishing support provided by

Lafayette Publishing Service Center