S'pore to invest S$25 million in research programme to improve weather prediction

S$25 million will be poured into a Weather Science Research Programme (WSRP) targeting weather analysis and prediction.

The programme will be implemented by the Climate and Weather Research Alliance Singapore (CAWRAS), which was established today (Sep. 5).

In a joint statement by the National Environment Agency (NEA), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and National University of Singapore (NUS), it was announced that the CAWRAS was formed to "advance tropical climate and weather research" in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

It will be led by the Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS).

Advancements in climate prediction

The WSRP will be funded by the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan, which was announced earlier this year.

Expanding upon existing weather prediction technology, it awards ten research projects that focus on the areas of weather observations, development of climate models, a Southeast Asia weather re-analysis and weather prediction accuracy.

Weather prediction will be sharpened in a number of ways, the agencies said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be used in one of the projects to develop more accurate predictions of hazardous weathers, including heavy rainfalls and strong winds.

It will also be considered how local weather is affected by ocean and land conditions from surrounding regions, such as the Sumatra squalls.

A high-resolution modelling system will also be developed to better represent urban weather phenomena in localised settings, which will be complemented with AI.

Top image via Canva