Why Singapore is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world
SINGAPORE: The contempo spells of hot weather that Singaporeans have been experiencing may not be just temporary heatwaves.
The island is heating upwards twice as fast as the rest of the earth - at 0.25 degrees Celsius per decade - according to the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS). It is almost ane deg C hotter today than in the 1950s.
What is fifty-fifty grimmer news – Singapore's maximum daily temperatures could reach 35 to 37 deg C by year 2100, if carbon emissions continue to rise at the same charge per unit, warned Dr Muhammad Eeqmal Hassim, senior research scientist with the MSS Centre for Climate Research Singapore.
Other countries already experience hotter temperatures than this - simply the reason this spells trouble for Singapore, is that humidity is high here all twelvemonth round.
This could lead to potentially deadly situations, as the programme Why Information technology Matters constitute out. (Sentinel the episode here)
"When temperature and humidity get high plenty, our bodies struggle to cope," he explained. "Nosotros become college rut stress levels. Information technology can actually be quite lethal for us."
HOW DID THINGS GET THIS Way?
Professor Matthias Roth of the section of geography at the National Academy of Singapore (NUS) attributed the ascent temperatures to global warming and the Urban Heat Isle (UHI) effect – caused past the heat generated from human activities and trapped by urban surfaces such as buildings and roads.
For instance, Dr Roth and plan host Mr Joshua Lim measured the temperature in rural Lim Chu Kang, an area of farms and forests, at a balmy 24.8 deg C i nighttime.
The temperature in built-upwards Orchard Road that same night was measured at 29.ane deg C – four degrees warmer.
One giant correspondent to the UHI outcome: The reliance on air-conditioners. Housing blocks and office buildings effectively end up ejecting hot plumes that heat upwards the environs.
Describing the effect of a stack of air-conditioner units, Professor Gerhard Schmitt – caput of a inquiry squad chosen "Cooling Singapore" at the Singapore-ETH Centre – said: "The bottom one is ejecting heat to the outside, but this estrus is then sucked in by the next one, and the next 1 and the next. The higher you go, the higher the temperature that comes out."
That means the household on meridian could end upward paying higher electricity bills for running the air-con, he noted.
HUMIDITY PLUS HEAT Tin can KILL
What are the risks if Singapore keeps getting hotter?
The trouble is the loftier humidity, which means perspiration doesn't evaporate every bit quickly. The body has to piece of work harder to stay cool, which can atomic number 82 to oestrus exhaustion and rut stroke.
As a estimate, the current relative humidity in Singapore varies from more than ninety per cent in the morning to effectually 60 per cent in the mid-afternoon when at that place is no pelting, according to the MSS website. Relative humidity oftentimes reaches 100 per cent during prolonged periods of rain.
Heat stroke occurs when core temperature exceeds 40 deg C and the body is unable to sufficiently dissipate the heat. It could lead to organ damage and death.
Marathoner Dr Derek Li, who came close to a heat stroke during a leisurely cycling trip in Desaru, described how his body started to seize up and he felt dizzy.
"I realised that I wasn't sweating as much every bit usual, my mouth was dry and my optics were dry. Those are usually the classical signs heading towards a heatstroke," said the experienced athlete and medical doctor. "It caught me past surprise."
He took a week to recover.
For a country equally hot and humid as Singapore, the National Academy Infirmary said it has fewer than 10 cases of heat stroke a twelvemonth.
Lookout man: Why these 'cooling' sports products don't work in Singapore's atmospheric condition (3:18)
CAN Annihilation Exist DONE?
To mitigate further temperature increase, Dr Roth cautions the importance of leaving untouched Singapore's current forested areas that are unprotected, and which could be subject in the futurity to development.
But how about calculation roof gardens and vertical greenery to buildings instead – would this assistance? Dr Roth doesn't call up so.
"The research that has not really shown that greening initiatives have a beneficial effect on the local microclimate in terms of reducing the actual urban heat isle effect," he said.
WATCH: Why it's getting dangerously hotter (5:eighteen)
In October 2018, the United nations released a newspaper asserting that the world had but 12 years to slash carbon emissions by nearly one-half, or take chances a climate ending.
Dr Schmitt said every endeavour counts, because "every individual in Singapore controls about 30 per cent of all the energy consumed or produced here".
Lifestyle changes could include taking the train instead of a car; and turning up the air-conditioning past but ane deg C can make a difference of up to five per cent of the air-con nib.
At the terminate of the twenty-four hours, though, might Singaporeans simply just acquire to suit to higher temperatures? Dr Li thinks and then.
"When we read reports nearly high decease tolls and oestrus waves in other countries, these usually ascend because they were unexpected," he explained. "Generally, mean temperatures tend to rise gradually and that gives u.s.a. the opportunity to adapt.
But, he added: "Fifty-fifty though it can't kill you lot, it yet can affect your life."
Watch the episode 'Killer Heat' of Why Information technology Matters here.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/cna-insider/why-singapore-heating-twice-fast-rest-world-297706
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