What do we understand about the impact of climate change in southeast Asia, extremes like Tsunamis, Typhoons, sea level rise, urban floods, and temperature variability? Climate change is impacting on oceans and generating greater storm intensity, creating risks for coastal infrastructure, including shipping ports across Asia which underpin global trade flows. And a new phenomenon – Meteotsunamis.
Powerful tsunamis, typhoons, storm surges are all coastal hazards that occur across Southeast Asia. These events are being impacted by climate change and rising sea levels. Valuable economic structures such as shipping ports, which deliver 80% of the world’s trade are facing growing risks from the changing ocean that could severely impact our lifestyles in the coming decades.
For scientists at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, it is a race against time to understand the effects climate change will have on coastal infrastructures in the region, ports and trade. Just how prepared are we, for extreme weather events in the future?
Valuable economic structures like shipping ports, airports, transport systems that connect people, trade, food, health supplies, and fresh water are all at risk from increased climate extremes. In this episode, we explore the threat of powerful tsunamis, the increased rate of typhoons, atmospheric windspeed, temperature variability and a new threat Meteotsunamis. The Earth Observatory of Singapore leads a regional push to establish a central organisation to set-up, monitor and map the impact of climate extremes on life in southeast-Asia and the economic costs to mitigate these threats.
We open in the midst of one of the biggest typhoons in the region – Typhoon Haiyan where Prof Adam Switzer and his team are one of the first research groups to arrive. Modelling from core samples in the field and along the beach zone where Typhoon Haiyan made landfall helps scientists better to predict the impact of powerful coast hazards in the future. How will storm intensity increase? What impact will rising temperatures have on glaciers and icesheets in the polar extremes that could accelerate sea-level rise and impact shipping ports and trade in the region?
While extreme coastal hazards, typhoons and compound flooding are increasing, another hazard has scientists worried. Southeast Asia is home to thousands of kilometres of active fault lines and over 700 volcanoes. Many of these have the potential to generate powerful tsunamis, that could wipe out coastal communities and billions of dollars in infrastructure. With rising sea levels, tsunamis are POTENTIALLY becoming more dangerous.
We jump a cable car with Prof Switzer and connect the atmosphere with ocean processes to discover a new phenomenon – Meteotsunamis – where ocean and atmosphere create mini tsunamis without warning.
