Dear EOS Community,
As the year comes to a close, I’d like to thank you for your continued interest and support in the research, initiatives and programs being conducted here at the Earth Observatory. Over the past year, your increased engagement has helped us to better understand your interests in geohazard research and provide content to meet them. From publications to awards and new blog series, here is a look back on a few highlights from 2017.
Volcanologist Caroline Bouvet de Maisonneuve shares about her experiences on the ground, the inherent risk involved in her work, and her safety-first approach.
At the age of 17, Associate Professor Adam Swtizer became a professional surfer. Now a climate expert at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, he says that his years as a surfer shaped much of his current research and work.
Scientists have long known that Myammar is tectonically vulnerable. But only recently, says Dr Paramesh Banerjee, have they been able to understand the full extent of the country’s seismic activity. This new insight is made possible by the new Myanmar Seismic Network, established earlier this year.
Singaporeans dread the dangerous haze incidents that occur each year. Thick, smoky air dries our throats and irritates our eyes. It makes breathing difficult and can cause lasting damage to our lungs. When the haze hits, atmospheric chemist Mikinori Kuwata and his team of six get down to work.
Call her a nerd, but earthquake scientist Judith Hubbard loves geology, and she is not afraid to admit it. Both sides of her office door are plastered, top to bottom, with expedition photos, while graphs and metre-long topographical maps of Nepal and Singapore stretch across her walls. A slew of geology books and stacks of paper threaten to engulf her entire desk.
Typhoon Hato struck the coasts of southern China on August 23, 2017. The typhoon claimed 26 lives and resulted in billions of dollars in economic losses. Three days after the event, our survey team was deployed to Macau and Zhuhai to investigate the impacts left by Typhoon Hato
In 2010, Assistant Professor Wang Xianfeng and his Brazilian colleague were in a cave deep in the Amazon jungle, wading through waist-deep water in almost complete darkness. The only sources of light came from the head torches mounted on their foreheads. They were collecting rock samples from caves to study climate changes in the Amazon during the last ice age 21,000 years ago. Asst. Prof Wang was leading the way, when his colleague spotted something up ahead and told him to stop.
On 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, destroying buildings and infrastructure across 31 of Nepal’s 70 districts. Approximately 9,000 people lost their lives to the earthquake that day, 22,000 suffered from injuries, and eight million were affected. I arrived in Kathmandu one week after the quake to support the government of Nepal in various response and recovery activities.
Our Earth is warming. In fact, the planet’s average temperature has risen by 0.6°C over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 6°C over the next hundred years. Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather.
