Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2014

Abstract

Recent Meteorological Droughts in Southeast Asia Singapore, Southeast Asia’s small, developed, densely populated, equatorial island nation, experienced a 2-month dry spell (meteorological drought) at the beginning of 2014. Although February falls within the relatively dry phase of the north-east monsoon season, the near-zero total of rainfall recorded at the reference meteorological station at Changi Airport was 160 mm below the long-term monthly mean (NEA, 2014a), resulting in the driest month since 1869. By mid-March, small streams in both forested and urban catchments ran dry. Open water bodies including ponds and reservoirs shrank substantially in size. The long-range prospects for 2014 were not promising, as an El Niño event was predicted to develop later in the year (e.g. Ludescher et al., 2014). Unprecedented in the minds of many, the dry spell should nonetheless be viewed as an uncommon reminder of Singapore’s vulnerability to drought.

Discipline

Environmental Sciences

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Hydrological Processes

Volume

28

Issue

15

First Page

4543

Last Page

4548

ISSN

0885-6087

Identifier

10.1002/hyp.10212

Publisher

Wiley: 12 months

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10212

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