Earth Observatory Blog

How Strong are Singapore’s Reefs?

Submitted on 08 Jun 2021 by:

Did you know that the coral reefs of Southeast Asia account for a third of the world total? Spanning an area of 100,000 km2, these reefs are rich in biodiversity and provide critical services to coastal communities, including fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection. 

While reef health and resilience are often measured by metrics such as the amount of coral on a reef or the number of different species, the quality of the coral skeleton itself is also a critical part of the services reefs provide. In Singapore, we found that some coral skeletons deformed and fractured more easily than their counterparts from other reefs, which may make them more vulnerable to climate change.

As corals grow, they deposit calcium carbonate crystals underneath their tissue, building...

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The ‘Elysium Epic Trilogy’ Exhibition: Stories of a Changing Climate

Submitted on 21 Apr 2021 by:

Visitors to the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) will be familiar with the exhibition of polar and tropical marine wildlife by some of the world’s leading photographers.

The driving force behind the ‘Elysium Epic Trilogy’ exhibition is Mr Michael Aw, the entrepreneurial underwater photographer who organised three expeditions to the Arctic, Antarctic, and Coral Triangle to document the species featured in this unique exhibition.

The locations of three disparate Elysium expeditions share one common feature – they are all in the front line of climate change. Of his experiences in the Antarctic, the Arctic, and the Coral Triangle, Michael set the scene: “It is humbling and challenging because we can see what we will lose and how much or how little we can do about...

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How are Singapore's Past Disasters Linked to its Future Resilience?

Submitted on 18 Mar 2021 by:

Singapore is known as one of the safest places in the world. Why, then, would we choose Singapore as a case study for developing new methods for disaster risk reduction?

People tend to be surprised when a natural hazard occurs and shocked when disastrous impacts follow. We wanted to create a new framework that can help preempt such surprise. We developed a guided process to explore potential outcomes that we do not naturally want to consider due to our optimistic human nature. And, regarded as one of the world’s safest countries, where could be a more surprising location for a disaster to happen other than Singapore?

First, we needed to better quantify and understand the past disasters Singapore has experienced. We started by looking into the past records of...

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