Singapore to have more climate specialists

New research centre will focus first on issues relevant to nation
Grace Chua Straits Times 22 Oct 11;

IT WILL no longer be a lonely job for the handful of meteorologists and climate scientists here.

Their numbers will increase because Singapore now plans to 'develop capabilities in climate science and modelling' within and beyond the Government, working with experts and institutions, said the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources in its addendum to the President's Address last week.

Till last year, none of the universities here had a division dedicated to earth and climate sciences. Now, Nanyang Technological University has one.

The National Environment Agency (NEA), on its part, is setting up the Centre for Climate Research Singapore within its Meteorological Service. It recently advertised for a director, research scientists and senior research scientists.

Climate scientists study how the atmosphere, oceans and land surface interact and try to identify predictable patterns.

The centre will start off by studying issues relevant to Singapore, for example, how intense storms called Sumatra squalls are formed. These are crucial because tropical climate and weather systems are less well-studied than temperate ones, and modelling phenomena like strong thunderstorms will be a challenge.

And as the impacts of man-made climate change hit, like more intense storms and floods, it will become more critical to understand what the future climate and weather patterns could be.

The Meteorological Service has about 40 meteorologists and the centre plans to have about 15 research scientists for now.

About $6 million is required each year over the next five years to get the centre going, said Meteorological Service director-general Wong Chin Ling.

Singapore needs to understand tropical climate over the long term - sometimes thousands of years, said Professor Kerry Sieh, head of the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), which is trying to fill some of the gaps in understanding.

For example, EOS researcher Adam Switzer looks at corals and coasts around the region to find out how high the sea level was in the past, or when there were big tsunamis or storms.

Meteorological Service models can project climate down to a 25km area now. Researchers like those at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology's Centre for Environmental Sensing and Modelling are trying to refine that.

Retired geography professor Wong Poh Poh said data from various climate vulnerability studies should be shared with more researchers and the public. The scope of climate research, he added, should be broadened to include adaptation, for example, to sea-level rises, coastal erosion and sea-water infiltration into freshwater reservoirs.

But good people are hard to find, even as the EOS has just shortlisted candidates for its climate group leader. Climate experts are in short supply worldwide as institutions and governments facing climate change seek expertise and advice.

But Assistant Professor Koh Tieh Yong at EOS said not many climate scientists are needed to have a big impact.

And while undergraduates need a firm grounding in physics, chemistry and the earth's physical and chemical processes, they may not need dedicated climate-science training till the postgraduate level.

Prof Koh added that a little climate research can still yield a lot of applications. 'You need good people,' he said. 'You don't need many people.'

Weather whizz-kid
Straits Times 22 Oct 11;

OVER the past few decades, the Science Centre Singapore has given out tens of thousands of Young Scientist badges to primary school pupils who complete activities such as bird-watching and measuring rainfall.

For Dr Koh Tieh Yong, one of the first home-grown atmospheric scientists to teach at a university here, the Young Meteorologist badge was a sign of things to come.

'I got the ones for geology, meteorology and astronomy,' said the self-professed nerd, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) who is now in his late 30s. 'I had my head in the clouds.'

Between primary school and university, that interest simmered on the back burner. He received a government scholarship to read physics at Imperial College, London, thinking he might become a meteorological service officer.The decision to study atmospheric science came easily because of its immediate relevance to society, Dr Koh added. 'You have more direct impact on people's lives than, say, astrophysics.'

After earning a doctorate in atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he came home to serve his bond as one of Singapore's first atmospheric research scientists.

Up until last year, Singapore did not have a university department dedicated to earth or climate science. He found an academic home first at the National University of Singapore and then at NTU's school of physical and mathematical sciences. He also holds an appointment at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, a research institute in NTU.

Dr Koh tries to model tropical weather systems on a small scale, as they behave differently from temperate weather systems. He and his team are also trying to find out what factors cause the strong storms called Sumatra squalls to start and move in from the west. Finally, he is trying to understand the effect of water vapour on weather. Water vapour carries heat as it rises and drives cloud formation.

In his spare time, the bachelor enjoys running. A row of souvenir medals from half-marathons lines a shelf - reminders from when he 'had more time'.

GRACE CHUA