On 06/02/2018, Pham Duc Binh defended his PhD thesis on the topic of "Satellite remote sensing of the variability of the continental hydrology cycle in the lower Mekong basin over the last two decades”. Binh was the first student to receive a PhD after graduating from the first intake of the Master Space program of the Department of Space and Aeronautics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology - USTH (Vietnam-France University) in 2014.

In this topic, the author uses remote sensing techniques with various types of satellite images at different resolutions (optical MODIS, Landsat, SAR Sentinel-1 active radar) to observe the water surface changes in the Mekong Delta and Tonle Sap - Cambodia. The variation of water levels at many points along the Mekong River is also monitored, using space-borne data retrieved from ENVISAT and Jason-2 satellites. The results of the study provide a spatio-temporal overview of changes in the hydrological cycle in the Lower Mekong Basin over the past two decades and are posted on the website of the Department:

https://space.usth.edu.vn/en/news/projects/surface-water-masks-within-cambodia-and-the-mekong-delta-with-sar-sentinel-1-observations-115.html

https://space.usth.edu.vn/en/news/projects/surface-water-masks-over-the-mekong-delta-and-cambodia-derived-from-visible-infrared-modis-observations-116.html
 

Photo: Pham Duc Binh presents his thesis at Paris Observatory, France
 

Photo: Pham Duc Binh and his supervisors, family and friends in Paris

During his PhD program in France, Pham Duc Binh was the main author of two ISI papers and the co-author of another paper, as well as a report and a poster at international and domestic conferences.

1.    Pham-Duc, B., Prigent, C., Aires, F., & Papa, F. (2017). Comparisons of Global Terrestrial Surface Water Datasets over 15 Years. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 18(4), 993-1007.
2.    Aires, F., Miolane, L., Prigent, C., Pham, B., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Lehner, B., & Papa, F. (2017). A global dynamic long-term inundation extent dataset at high spatial resolution derived through downscaling of satellite observations. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 18(5), 1305-1325.
3.    Pham-Duc, B., Prigent, C., & Aires, F. (2017). Surface Water Monitoring within Cambodia and the Vietnamese Mekong Delta over a Year, with Sentinel-1 SAR Observations. Water, 9(6), 366.