Singapore & the Marine Environment
The island city-state of Singapore is home to 4 million people within a confined area of around 700 square kilometers. The country has a thriving, economy and is home to the world’s third largest petroleum refinery, as well as vibrant chemical, pharmaceutical and electronics industries.
Singapore has a tropical climate and is surrounded by the rich biodiversity of flora and fauna of Southeast Asia. Both the terrestrial and marine environments in Singapore have undergone radical transformations over past decades to accommodate Singapore’s rapid urban development. In particular, coastal environments, including mangrove and coral reefs, have been extensively modified via land reclamation and port development activities.
Our research group has particular interest in the threat to Singapore’s coastal environment from contamination - derived from both marine and terrestrial sources. We conduct projects to ascertain the fate and distribution of inorganic (heavy metal) and organic contaminants (pesticides, flame retardants etc) in marine ecosystems and associated food chains.
We are also interested in the development of techniques for the bioremediation of hydrocarbons derived from the spillage of oil in the marine environment.
In association with our marine-related work on contaminants in the food chain, we are interested in the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in human tissues.
In June 2001 in Stockholm, 162 countries (including Singapore) signed United Nations Stockholm Convention on POPs. This goal of the convention is to ban totally the use and the production of a “Red list” of the 12 most harmful POPs. This list includes pesticides, the PCBs and the polychlorinated dibenzofurans and dioxins.
In order to understand the behavior of these pollutants in the coastal environment, a baseline study of POPs is being undertaken by our research group in the South-East Asia region.
Marina Basin , Singapore
Principal investigator: A/P J.P. Obbard |
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PhD Students POPs availability in sediments and biota
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Research staff Toxicity of POPs
Dynamics of heavy metals in coastal environments POPs in the sea surface microlayer |
On-going Projects 1. Fate and Transport of Persistent Organic Pollutant between Ocean and Atmosphere in the Local and Regional Context 2. Monitoring of Marine Contaminants Sponsor: Maritime & Port Authority, Singpore 3. Perinatal exposure to organochlorine pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl in Singapore Sponsor: National Medical Research Council , Singapore |
Associated projects: PhD / POPs in human tissues
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These projects are being conducted in collaboration with local environmental agencies as well as world-class institutions such as:
- Professor Kevin C. Jones, Department of Environmental Sciences, Lancaster University (UK)
- Professor Paul Lam, City University, Hong Kong
- Dr Chong Yap Seng & Dr Annamaili Loganath, National University of Singapore
- The device is designed to collect dry deposition of atmospheric particulates using Mylar film coated with Apiezion L grease.
The sea-surface microlayer (SML) sampler device has been designed for trace organic pollutant and heavy metal analysis, where only stainless steel, anodized aluminum, glass and Teflon materials were used in construction. The SML sampler is attached to a research vessel by a 5m long aluminum beam located starboard. The sampler is attached to the beam via suspension springs. The SML is collected under capillary force on a glass drum (cylinder), partly immersed in the water and oriented parallel to the direction of travel direction to avoid build-up of surface components ahead of the sampler. The SML sample is picked up on the ascending side of the rotating glass drum and then scraped off by an inclined wiper located on the downward side. The downstream wiper overhangs, and leads into, an elbow glass port which is connected to a 12V DC Teflon diaphragm pump. Seawater is also collected simultaneously from a depth of 1 m using a second pump. Teflon tubes are used to transfer the SML and seawater samples to the boat for on-line filtration over a pre-cleaned GF/B filter.
- Atmospheric samples of POPs have been collected in Singapore and during a sailing expedition across the Indian Ocean in order to examine historical trends of atmospheric POPs in the region of the Indian Ocean and adjacent countries. Data has been compared with similar studies conducted over the Indian Ocean in the mid 1970's and beginning of the 1990's.
- Analysis of POPs in the coastal environment using biomarkers, e.g. green mussel Perna viridis.
- Analysis of POPs in marine sediments, with an emphasis on new classes of contaminants, such as the PBDEs, PCNs and PBBs.
Dr Subramanian Karuppiah Gained his Ph.D from Annamalai University, India. He is responsible for the collection of sea surface micro layer and sub surface water samples, and associated toxicity testing. He also assists in undertaking routine analysis on seawater and sediment samples for heavy metals and a range of POPs. He is particularly interested in the accumulation of contaminants in marine mammal tissues.
Conferences:
Subramanian Karuppiah, Wurl Oliver and Jeffrey Philip Obbard., 2006. The effect of Heavy Rainfalls on the concentration of persistent organic pollutants in the sea surface microlayer. AGU, Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. USA.
Wurl Oliver, Subramanian Karuppiah and Jeffrey Philip Obbard. 2006. The Role of the Sea-Surface Microlayer in the Dynamic of the Air-Sea Gas Exchange of Organochlorine Compounds AGU, Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. USA.
Stéphane BAYEN, Oliver WURL, Subramanian KARUPPIAH, N. SIVASOTHI, Jeffrey Philip OBBARD. Organochlorine Contamination in Mangrove Habitats of Singapore – The 4th Asia Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (APSEG4) – Perth, Australia ( January 16th – 20th, 2005).
Dang The CUONG, Stéphane BAYEN, Oliver WURL, Subramanian KARUPPIAH, Kelvin Kae Shing WONG, N. SIVASOTHI, Jeffrey Philip OBBARD. Heavy Metal Contamination in Mangrove Habitats of Singapore – The 4th Asia Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (APSEG4) – Perth, Australia ( January 16th – 20th, 2005).
Dang The Cuong Gained his Masters Degree from the Department of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Now he is working in the Tropical Marine Science Institute, NUS as a Research Assistant. His particular interest is in the analysis and speciation of heavy metals in marine sediments and biota.
Conferences:
Dang The CUONG, Stéphane BAYEN, Oliver WURL, Subramanian KARUPPIAH, Kelvin Kae Shing WONG, N. SIVASOTHI, Jeffrey Philip OBBARD. Heavy Metal Contamination in Mangrove Habitats of Singapore – The 4th Asia Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (APSEG4) – Perth, Australia ( January 16th – 20th, 2005)
Dang The CUONG, Jeffrey Philip OBBARD. Heavy Metals in the Seawater Column and Sediments in the Coastal Environment of Singapore – The 3rd HAS-NUS annual Scientific Seminar, Singapore ( May 11th, 2005).
Oliver WurlCurrently studying for his PhD at the TropicalMarine Science Institute, NUS. The objective of his research is to investigate the occurrence of POPs in Asia’s marine environment, and to investigate the processes affecting the fate and distribution of these compounds in a tropical region. Particular attention has been focused on the role of the sea-surface microlayer (SML) in controlling the fate and distribution of POPS between the ocean and atmosphere. SML samples have been collected using a rotating glass drum sampler (see above) in Singapore and Hong Kong via a collaboration with Prof. Lam at City University, Hong Kong.
Conferences:
Subramanian Karuppiah, Wurl Oliver and Jeffrey Philip Obbard., 2006. The effect of Heavy Rainfalls on the concentration of persistent organic pollutants in the sea surface microlayer. AGU, Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. USA.
Wurl Oliver, Subramanian Karuppiah and Jeffrey Philip Obbard. 2006. The Role of the Sea-Surface Microlayer in the Dynamic of the Air-Sea Gas Exchange of Organochlorine Compounds AGU, Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. USA.
Stéphane BAYEN, Oliver WURL, Subramanian KARUPPIAH, N. SIVASOTHI, Jeffrey Philip OBBARD. Organochlorine Contamination in Mangrove Habitats of Singapore – The 4th Asia Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (APSEG4) – Perth, Australia ( January 16th – 20th, 2005).
Dang The CUONG, Stéphane BAYEN, Oliver WURL, Subramanian KARUPPIAH, Kelvin Kae Shing WONG, N. SIVASOTHI, Jeffrey Philip OBBARD. Heavy Metal Contamination in Mangrove Habitats of Singapore – The 4th Asia Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (APSEG4) – Perth, Australia ( January 16th – 20th, 2005).
Tan Yen Ling (PhD Student - 2004-ongoing)
Is undertaking her PhD at the Tropical Marine Science Institute and focuses on :
In particular, she is interested in the fate and transport of contaminants from the urban catchments of Singapore to the coastal environment.
Tan Jing (PhD Student - 2004-ongoing)
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
10 Kent Ridge Crescent
Singapore 119 260
Tel: (+65) 6772-2382
Fax: (+65) 6872-3056
Tan Jing’s email: g0402629@nus.edu.sg
From January 2004, Tan Jing has undertaken her PhD research on human perinatal exposure to organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls - a project funded by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC). The project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Chong Yap Seng and Dr Anamali Loganath of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, NUS. Multiple human tissue samples, including breast milk, whole blood, and placenta samples will be collected for analysis to establish the fate, transfer and transmission of POPs between mother and fetus in Singapore.
Zhang Jie Currently working at the Tropical Marine Science Institute, NUS as a Research Assistant. His interest is in the analysis of pharmaceutical active compounds in sea water and sediments.
Marvin Joseph Fonacier Montefr
Marvin is a civil and environmental engineer by training. He completed his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of the Philippines and Master degree in Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore. Prior to doing research at TMSI, he worked for United Envirotech, a water and wastewater treatment design and build company based in Singapore and China, as a consultant and project engineer. Concurrently, he is working his way towards an Environmental Management degree at the School of Design and Environment while working full time in the institute.
Ma Lingling
Tel: 65-67749882
Email: tmsml@nus.edu.sg
Lingling obtained her Ph.D from the Chinese Academy of Science, 2004. After graduation, she worked in the State Key laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, China from 2004 to 2005