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Tonle Sap with its Great Lake branches off the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. It is a combined tributary and distributary, with inflow (from Mekong into Tonle Sap) in June-September, and outflow in October-May.
The seasonal water level variation is around 5 m in a dry year and
around 9 m in a wet year. The surface area varies between some 2,500 km2 in the dry season and
some 12,000 km2 during the peak of the monsoon. The storage volume is
around 70 bio. m3.
Tonle Sap and the Great Lake modify the mainstream flow and sediment
transport downstream of Phnom Penh, and represent a unique wetlands
ecosystem.
