January 8, 2019

As Singapore is a city-state, its high degree of urbanization and population density contribute significantly to carbon dioxide emissions. Singapore’s unique position as a tropical urban island has been the focus of research by Professor Matthias Roth (NUS Department of Geography). His research looks at the shifts in various components of Singapore’s climate such as the changes in heat measurements and emissions of carbon dioxide. In January 2006, Prof Roth was awarded a Ministry of Education (MOE) research grant that he used to fund the set up of a 21 metre flux tower in Telok Kerau. Named after the neighbourhood it was erected in, the TK tower built 13 years ago has served to collect data ranging from measurements of radiation fluxes and meteorology to concentrations of carbon dioxide.

The TK tower ceased operation in September 2017 after the site’s lease expired. The tower has since been returned to the government for alternate use. The data collected by the TK Tower in the 11 years it functioned remain valuable, contributing to Prof Roth’s research into carbon dioxide exchange over the suburban Singaporean neighbourhood of Telok Kurau.

Prof Roth, in collaboration with researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and the Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM), published “The role of vegetation in the CO₂ flux from a tropical urban neighbourhood” (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2013), which uses data covering a 21 month period from October 2010 to June 2012. The TK Tower allowed for the direct measurement of fluctuations in carbon dioxide concentrations. The data collected was then used to analyse the various human activities contributing to carbon dioxide emissions and placed in contrast to the carbon dioxide offset by vegetation. The study found that vegetation can offset a significant portion of carbon dioxide emitted by human activities such as cooking and vehicle use.

Although the data collected is limited to the neighbourhood of Telok Kerau, the research shows the importance of increasing urban vegetation in tackling climate change. Despite the TK Tower having ceased operation, the data it has gathered over the years is useful in the evaluation and improvement of various climate models and mitigation strategies.

Read the article here.

Read up more on the Telok Kurau Flux Tower and other projects by the NUS Urban Climate Lab from here and here.