Fiona Williamson and Praveen Teleti are dedicated to helping in any way that we can to the pressing challenge of climate change, we created this site and project to help encourage people to join us in filling gaps in our climate record. We are firmly committed to the principle that climate change cannot be resolved by remaining in disciplinary silos and, that history and climate science are united, more valuable.
Our project was funded in 2024 by the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 2. The Monsoon Voyages part of this project will deepen our understanding of historical rainfall patterns in the Malacca Straits and Southeast Asia.
Through the data extracted by the Monsoon Voyages project, we aim to combine our expertise to explore historical rainfall and monsoon behaviors by analyzing ship logs, travel diaries, and other historical documents from maritime voyages. This collaborative effort seeks to reconstruct detailed historical climate patterns, particularly focusing on extreme weather events in the Malacca Straits and surrounding areas. By integrating historical data with modern analytical techniques, we aspire to improve predictions of future climate variability in Southeast Asia, ultimately contributing to regional climate resilience and adaptation strategies.
The image used on this page is from an original watercolour by J. Taylor, 1879 of Singapore: Sunset over the Harbour. Sourced from The Wellcome Trust Image Collection