First year student publishes monsoon study

(Phys.org) —A first year Environmental Science student at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) has had a literature review of the Southeast Asian monsoon published in the academic journal Geoscience Frontiers. Her research concluded that future climate warming could lead to a 15 day delay in the monsoon onset in Southeast Asia by the start of the next century.

Yen Yi Loo investigated how global and regional temperature and rainfall anomalies affect rainfall patterns and the South East Asian Monsoon. She also highlighted how increased rainfall intensity in the last decade has caused major floods in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines with implications for regional food security.

The review paper, titled "Effect of climate change on seasonal monsoon in Asia and its impact on the variability of monsoon rainfall in Southeast Asia," arose from work Yen Yi conducted for her first year module "Dissertation in Environmental Science" under the supervision of Dr Lawal Billa in the School of Geography and Dr Ajit Singh in the School of Biosciences.

Explaining some of the challenges she encountered in writing this paper Yen Yi, who is now in the second year of her BSc in Environmental Science at UNMC, said: "I enjoyed doing the research very much, but at that stage our modules had yet to cover the relevant material, so it was a challenge to get up to speed with the new topic. Now that we are studying these topics in more depth in second year, it is good to see the research area in the context of the modules I am taking. Whilst writing the paper was hard work, I found the critical review process the most challenging. Nonetheless, the hard work really pays off in the end."

Inspiration for other students

When he became aware that the journal was compiling a special issue on Natural Hazards Yen Yi's dissertation supervisor Dr Lawal Billa suggested that Yen Yi submit her research for publication. Dr Billa said: "I hope Yen Yi's efforts and achievements will serve as a motivation to students in Environmental Science and other programmes at UNMC."

The Head of the School of Geography at UNMC, Dr Suzanne McGowan said: "This is a very significant achievement for a first year undergraduate student and we warmly congratulate Yen Yi."

Dr Festo Massawe, Head of the School of Biosciences at UNMC, added: "This is not only testament to the exceptional qualities of our students and academic staff but also confirmation that we offer a well-rounded educational experience to our students."