Rebecca Liu Business Times 11 May 11;
THE National Environment Agency is moving ahead in its efforts to help Singapore build up its capabilities in climate science, beginning with the Meteorological Services division being renamed the Singapore Meteorological Service (SMS) and given an enhanced role as the national weather and climate authority.
The NEA will also be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Met Office, a significant step forward for the NEA as it builds up its capabilities in climate change research.
This cements a three- year collaboration between SMS and the Hadley Centre, a leader in climate prediction operated by the UK Met Office. They will jointly develop and implement climate models as well as conduct research on the tropical climate and weather systems affecting Singapore and the region.
According to NEA CEO Andrew Tan, both parties will benefit from better prediction of the El Nino and La Nina phenomena, monsoons, and tropical convective systems.
These all have 'an important bearing on the weather and climate of Singapore and the region, as well as the global climate system'.
SMS's enhanced climate science capability to produce reliable weather projections will provide vital data for agencies such as the Health Ministry and NEA to establish the correlation between climate variables and disease incidence such as dengue, heat disorder and respiratory disease.
NEA signs MOU with UK Met Office
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 10 May 11;
SINGAPORE : The National Environment Agency (NEA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre to beef up its research into climate science.
The three-year collaboration will provide NEA's Meteorological Services with climate models as well as an exchange of information and scientists.
Torrential rains, floods, and rising temperatures are just some weather patterns in the region associated with climate change.
But NEA's Meteorological Services hopes that with the collaboration, it will be able to produce more reliable projections of Singapore's rainfall, temperature, wind and sea levels for different time levels - up to the year 2100.
The collaboration will also have an implication for policy making decisions in the area of climate change.
The Meteorological Services said the projections could mean safeguarding Singapore against the impact of climate change.
This is the first such collaboration for the Hadley Centre in the region.
A centre for climate science research in Singapore is also in the works.
John Hirst, chief executive of UK Met Office, said: "It is important for us to work internationally, just as it is important for Singapore to have access to the best science in the world, which I think we bring. Singapore has a fantastic science base, there are a lot of very good scientists here, and it has a genuine interest in the meteorological and climate sciences that we do together."
NEA said the collaboration will also benefit the region, as it could provide a better understanding of Southeast Asia's climate, including better predicting the El Nino and El Nina phenomena, monsoons and tropical connective systems.
NEA added that its Meteorological Services division will be renamed the Singapore Meteorological Services to reflect the wider demands as it caters to agencies within the government and private sectors.
- CNA/ck/ms
