The latest predictions come from a better understanding of how the melting of Antarctic ice sheets contributes to global sea levels.
The average sea level rise observed around Singapore is currently around 0.2 meters across six tide gauges.
Approximately 30 per cent of Singapore’s land lies below 5 meters above average sea level. As sea levels rise, extreme weather events such as storm surges and storm surges could cause the sea level to rise by an additional 4 to 5 meters.
In the face of this threat, authorities are already considering ways to protect Singapore’s coastline.
Last November, Singapore announced one of its most significant measures to date. It would be reclaimed for a new island to protect one of the country’s most endangered coastlines.
The island nation has taken a range of other measures, most of them hard structures such as sea walls and stone embankments, and is considering longer-term and more targeted ways to protect its coastline. I am currently in the process of doing so.
Singapore is also working to develop its capacity to address flood risks and strengthen its resilience to floods.
All this costs a lot of money. In 2019, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said more than S$100 billion would be needed over 100 years to tackle sea level rise.
Winston Chow, professor of urban climate at the Singapore Management University, said as sea level rise accelerates, addressing when to implement measures will become more important.
“The Version 3 analysis shows that sea level rise is very likely to accelerate, so the time window left to implement these adaptation measures is shrinking more rapidly, including their costs. I can do it.”
“There are still uncertainties about changes in the ice mass under[high emissions scenarios]and if these ice sheets melt completely (which is unlikely, but the impact is high), how many adaptation measures will Singapore take? “There are limits to how much we can protect our coastlines,” he added.