THE IMPACTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE ON THE COASTS OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

Sea Level Rise is a highly contentious issue. The data are sketchy, the methods of research are not foolproof and predictions of the extent of sea level rise are uncertain. Yet, together with global warming, sea level rise and its impacts on the shoreline is one of the biggest concerns today and a vital area of research. It is predicted by the IPCC (1995) that sea levels will rise by up to 95cm by the year 2100. The impacts of sea level rise on Singapore's coasts are not fully understood, and the little work done in this area is not publicly available. This thesis focuses on studying two of the impacts of sea level rise on selected sandy beaches in Singapore: inundation and shoreline retreat. To explore the potential impacts of sea level rise on Singapore's coasts, beach profiles were measured at seven different beaches around Singapore. Their profiles were plotted and the data were analysed. From them, the Bruun Rule (1962) was applied to these profiles and shoreline retreat at each of these sites was predicted. Based on results of this thesis, the following conclusions were reached. (1) Inundation will occur at all the study sites, and at high estimates will flood the entire beach as well as the backshore. (2) Coastal retreat that will subsequently occur will range from 1.1 m to 15m based on the low estimates and from 7.1 m to 95m based on the high estimates.