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Physical and Environmental Geography Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical and Environmental Geography

Heat And Colonial Weather Science In The Straits Settlements C. 1820-1900, Fiona Williamson Dec 2022

Heat And Colonial Weather Science In The Straits Settlements C. 1820-1900, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Historical explorations of tropical heat in a colonial context have largely focussed on two interconnected spheres: colonial perceptions of place and body or, the implications of heat on different bodies in medical thought and practice. This paper seeks to move the discussion towards a history of colonial scientific thought about heat as component of weather and of escalating nature-induced hazards, studied in the observatory or meteorological department. A central theme is to think about heat in its relationship to nascent meso-scale atmospheric knowledge, meteorological theory and, as a by-product of urbanisation and land-use change. In so doing, it conceptualises the …


Changes Of Winter Severity In Arkansas During 1901-2100, Christian Garcia Aug 2022

Changes Of Winter Severity In Arkansas During 1901-2100, Christian Garcia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to quantify the winter severity in a way that was reproduceable and easy to understand. The Accumulated Winter Severity Seasonal Index (AWSSI) was chosen for this reason and was used to quantify winter severity by season across the state of Arkansas. The variables that go into the AWSSI calculation are maximum daily temperature, minimum daily temperature, daily snowfall, and daily snow depth. When the snowfall and snow depth were missing, they can be estimated using daily temperature and precipitation. Then the estimated snowfall and snow depth can be subsequently used to quantify the winter …


El Niño And The Human-Environment Nexus: Drought And Vulnerability In Singapore 1877-1911, Fiona Williamson Aug 2022

El Niño And The Human-Environment Nexus: Drought And Vulnerability In Singapore 1877-1911, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This chapter brings a climatic perspective to the study of Singaporean history by exploring the impacts of the strong El Niño inspired droughts of 1877, 1902 and 1911. The narrative focuses on unpacking the nexus of nature-inspired versus human-induced vulnerability to drought within the contexts of colonial urbanisation and looks at the short-to medium-term impacts of the events on society. It also explores how such events inspired new questions about the climate and regional teleconnections, as a wealth of evidence became available due to the increasingly connected nature of scientific institutions, scientific literature, and communications systems across the Indian Ocean …