FASS Staff Profile

PROFESSOR PAUL SIMON KENCH
PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT of GEOGRAPHY

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PROFESSOR
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Email:
pkench@nus.edu.sg
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https://profile.nus.edu.sg/fass/pkench/
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Brief Introduction

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

As a Coastal Geomorphologist my research examines critical questions related to the environmental and anthropogenic drivers of change in tropical coastal systems. My work is multi-disciplinary, situated at the interface of geomorphology, nearshore oceanography, and ecology, and of direct relevance to the resilience and management of coastal communities. I adopt a systems approach to examine processes, feedbacks and sediment fluxes that modulate coastal landform change at a range of temporal scales (past 10,000 years, present, and future).

My broad areas of interest include:  

  • Resolving the morphodynamics and environmental controls on the evolution and contemporary dynamics of coastal systems, with a focus on tropical coral reefs and reef islands.

  • Sea-level rise, coral reefs and ecosystem services.

  • Development of an empirical basis to predict physical coastal landform dynamics and ocean hazards to support coastal adaptation in coastal communities.

  • Changes in sea levels, ocean seawater temperatures and ocean acidification over the last 2,000 years.

I have worked extensively across the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean and my research draws heavily on field-based, laboratory and remote-sensing methods.

 

 

OTHER ROLES

From August 2022 I assumed the role as Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee

 

WHAT DID I DO BEFORE JOINING NUS?

Before joining NUS in July 2022, I held the positions as Dean of the Faculty of Science, and Professor of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University, Canada (2018-2022); Professor of Coastal Processes and Head of School of the Environment at the University of Auckland (2013-2018); Associate Professor in the School of Environment University of Auckland (2002-2012); and prior to that Senior Research Fellow at the International Global Change Institute, University of Waikato, and Lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of Melbourne. I have also worked in the private sector applying practical physical geography knowledge to address environmental management problems and inform coastal management decision making.

 

QUALIFICATIONS

PhD            Coastal Geoscience, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia

MA (Hons)  Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand

BA               Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand


Teaching Areas

  • GE4239 Coastal Dynamics (Module Coordinator)
  • GE4207 Coastal Management (Module Coordinator)

Graduate Supervision

GRADUATE STUDENTS

I am always interested in working with graduate students in my broad areas of research interest. I have previously supervised 40 Masters research students and 19 PhD students. The following provides a sample of the range of recent PhD projects I have supervised.

 

RECENT PHD STUDENTS

Dr Ashton Eaves  2022 Modelling the economic implications of coastal managed retreat.

Dr Laura Raubichaux  2022  The Coastal Risk Management Implementation Gap: Evaluating Project Drivers and Barriers.

Dr Meghna Sengupta  2021 Reef islands from space: a remote sensing – machine learning approach to identify the drivers of shoreline change on Pacific coral reef islands.

Dr Oliver Knebel  2020  Boron isotope records from Pacific microatolls: modifications in Porites lutea calcifying fluid composition under anthropogenic ocean acidification and natural pH variability.

Dr Megan Tuck  2019  Physical modelling investigation of reef island morphodynamics under rising sea levels. (co-supervisor)

Dr Christine Liang  2016 Sedimentology and formation of lagoonal platform reef islands in Huvadhoo atoll, Maldives.

Dr Edward Beetham  2016  Field and numerical investigations of wave transformation and inundation on atoll islands.

Dr Tuan Meng Lee  2015  The effect of environmental factors on the dynamics of bacterial populations associated with coral colonies and the implications for holobiont health.

Dr Kyle Morgan  2014  A Calcium carbonate budget of a Maldivian reef platform.


Research Interests

TROPICAL COASTAL CHANGE: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Coastlines are among the most physically dynamic landforms on earth and low-lying coastal plains are also among the most densely populated places. Understanding the rate, magnitude, timescales and causes of coastal change are important to support effective coastal management and future planning developments. I am interested in quantifying coastal change, how this varies spatially (and between different coastal landform types) and resolving the key processes that drive coastal change. My work has focussed on small island nations and coral reef settings in the Indian Ocean, South-East Asia, Pacific, and Caribbean settings. I am actively engaged in research projects in the following areas.

 

Coastal Landform Evolution, Dynamics, and Future Trajectories

I am particularly interested in resolving the evolution of coastal landforms, and the processes controlling coastal change from millennial to event timescales. Findings of this research provide necessary insight into future landform trajectories. Specific areas of interest include:

  • Documenting the rate and magnitude of coastal change over the past century using remotely sensed imagery and long-term monitoring datasets.
  • Understanding the evolution and ongoing change of coastal landforms during the Holocene (past 10,000 years) based on detailed field investigations.
  • Resolving the processes (waves, currents) that govern shoreline adjustment based on field experimentation.

 

Sea-Level Rise, Coral Reef Growth and Ecosystem Services

Coral reefs provides a myriad of ecosystem services to reef fringed coastal communities. The physical structure of reefs provides the substrate for human settlement, and the reef structure is widely perceived as critical in filtering ocean wave energy and therefore, buffering communities from wave erosion and flooding. However, the contemporary and future capacity of reefs to maintain growth, and the geomorphic services that reefs afford coastal communities is poorly resolved. I have ongoing projects that are:

  • Evaluating contemporary and future rates of coral reef growth.
  • Quantifying the wave protection capability of coral reefs and how this will change with rising sea levels.

 

Paleo-Environmental Change

I am also interested in reconstructing past environmental conditions including sea level variability, sea surface temperature and ocean seawater chemistry over the past 2,000 years. Such reconstructions are important for understanding the boundary conditions for coastal change over the past two millennia, but also for contextualising recent anthropogenic changes in ocean properties.


Publications

ARTICLES IN JOURNAL

  • Mann, T., Schone, T., Kench, P.S., Lambeck, K., Ashe, E., Kneer, D., Beetham, E., Illinger, J., Rovere, A., Dechamps, P., Marfais, M-A., Westphal, H. (2023) Fossil Java Sea corals record Laurentide ice sheet disappearance, Geology, 51, 631-636.  
  • Knebel, O., Carvajal, C., Kench, P., Gehrels, R. (2023) Spatial pH variability of coral reef flats of Kiritimati Island, Kiribati. Marine Environmental Research, 185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105861
  • Kench, P.S., Liang, Y., Ford, M.R., Owen, S.D., Mohamed, A. Dickson, M.E., Stephenson, W., Vila-Concejo, A., Ryan, E.J., Turner, T., Beetham, E., McLean, R.F. (2023) Reef islands have continually adjusted to environmental change over the past two millennia. Nature Communications, 14, 508. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36171-2 
  • Eaves, A., Kench, P., McDonald, G., Dickson, M., & Storey, B. (2023) Modelling economic risk to sea-level rise and storms at the coastal margin. Journal of Flood Risk Management, e12903. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12903   
  • Liang, Y., Kench P.S., Ford, M.R., East, H.K. (2022) Lagoonal reef island formation in Huvadhoo atoll, Maldives, highlights marked temporal variations in island building across the archipelago. Geomorphology, 414 108395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2022.108395
  • Kench, P.S., Ford, M.R., Bramante, J.F., Ashton, A., Donnelly, J.P., Sullivan, R.M., Toomey, M.R. (2022) Heightened storm activity drives late Holocene reef island formation in the central Pacific Ocean. Global and Planetary Change, 215, 103, 103888.
  • Kench, P.S., Beetham, E., Turner, T., Morgan, K.E., Owen, S.D., McLean, R.F. (2022) Sustained coral reef growth in the critical wave dissipation zone of a Maldivian atoll. Communications Earth and Environment, 3, 9, 1-12.
  • Ryan, E.J., Owen, S.D., Lawrence, J., Glavovic, B., Robichaux, L., Dickson, M., Kench, P.S., Bell, R. and Blackett, P. (2022) Co-producing a 100-year strategy for managing coastal hazard risk in a changing climate: Lessons learned from Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Environmental Science and Policy, 127, 1-11.
  • Masselink G., McCall R., Beetham E., Kench P.S., Storlazzi C. (2021) Role of Future Reef Growth on Morphological Response of Coral Reef Islands to Sea-Level Rise. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 126, e2020JF005749.
  • Knebel, O., Carvajal, C., Standish, C., de la Vega, E., Chalk, T., Ryan, E., Guo, W., Ford, M.R., Foster, E., Kench, P.S. (2021) Variabilities on Porites Calcifying Fluid pH at Seasonal to Diurnal Scales. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 126, e2020JC016889.
  • Bramante, J., Ford, M.R., Kench, P.S., Ashton, A.D., Toomey, M.R, Sullivan, R., Karnauskas, K.B., Ummenhofer, C.C., Donnelly, J.P. (2020) Increased Little Ice Age typhoon activity in the Pacific deep tropics driven by circulation changes. Nature Geoscience, 13, 806-811.
  • Kench, P.S., Owen, S.D., Beetham, E.P., McLean, R.F., Mann, T. (2020). Holocene sea level dynamics drive formation of a large atoll island in the central Indian Ocean. Global and Planetary Change, 195, 103354.
  • Masselink, G., Beetham, E.P., Kench, P.S., (2020) Coral reef islands can build vertically in response to rising sea levels. Science Advances, 6, eaay3656.
  • Ford, M.R., Kench, P.S., Owen, S.D., Qua, H. (2020) Active sediment generation on coral reef flats contributes to recent island expansion. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL088752
  • Kench, P.S., McLean, R.F., Owen, S.D., Ryan, E., Morgan, K.E., Lin, Roy, K.E. (2020) Marked sea level variability in the Indian Ocean over the past two millennia. Nature Geoscience, 13, 61-64.
  • Tuck, M.E., Kench, P.S., Ford, M.R., Masselink, G. (2019) Physical modelling of the response of reef islands to sea level rise. Geology, 47, 803-806.
  • Esteban, M., Jamero, L., Nurse, L., Yamamoto, L., Takagi, H., Nguyen, T.D., Mikami, T., Kench, P.S., Onuki, M., Nellas, A., Crichton, R., Valenzuela, V.P., Chadwick, C., Avelino, E., Tan, N., Shibayama, T. (2019) Adaptation to Sea Level Rise on Low Coral Islands: Lessons from Recent Events. Ocean and Coastal Management, 168, 35-40.
  • Ryan, E.J., Hanmer, K., Kench, P.S. (2019) Positive reef flat carbonate budget after bleaching event on a southern Maldivian reef attributed to dominance of massive corals. Scientific Reports, 9, 6515 doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42985-2.
  • Masselink, G., Tuck, M., McCall, R., van Dongeren, A., Ford, M., Kench, P.S. (2019) Physical and numerical modelling of infragravity wave generation and transformation on coral reef platforms. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124, doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014411.
  • Kench, P.S., McLean R.F., Owen S.D., Tuck M., and Ford M.R. (2018) Storm-deposited coral reef blocks: a mechanism of island genesis, Tutaga, Funafuti, Tuvalu. Geology, 46, 915-918.
  • Beetham, E., and Kench, P.S. (2018) A global tool for predicting future wave-driven flood trajectories on atoll islands. Nature Communications, 9, 3997, doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06550-1.
  • Perry, C.T., Alvarez-Filip, L., Januchowski-Hartley F., Kench, P.S., et al. (2018) Loss of coral reef growth capacity to track future increases in sea level. Nature, 558, 396-400.
  • Kench, P.S., Ryan, E.J., Owen, S.D., Bell, R., Lawrence, J., Glavovic, B., Blackett, P., Becker, J., Schneider P., Allis, M., Dickson, M.E., Rennie, H. (2018) Co-creating resilience solutions to coastal hazards through an interdisciplinary research project in New Zealand. Journal of Coastal Research, 85, 1496-1500.
  • Kench, P.S., Ford, M.R., Owen, S.D. (2018) Patterns of island change and persistence provide alternate opportunities for adaption in atoll nations. Nature Communications, 9, 605, Doi10.1038/s41467-018-02954-1.
  • Beetham, E., Kench, P.S., Popinet, S., (2017) Future reef growth can mitigate physical impacts of sea-level rise on atoll islands. Earth’s Future, 5, doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000589.
  • Aslam, M., Kench P.S. (2017) Reef Island Dynamics and Mechanisms of Change: Huvadhoo Atoll, Republic of Maldives, Indian Ocean. Anthropocene, 18, 57-88.
  • McLean R.F., Kench, P.S. (2015)  Destruction or Persistence of Coral Atoll Islands in the Face of 20th and 21st Century Sea Level Rise?  WIRES Climate Change, 6, 445-463.
  • Kench, P.S., Thompson, D., Ford, M., Ogawa, H., McLean, R.F. (2015) Coral islands defy sea-level rise over the past century: Records from a central Pacific atoll. Geology 43, 515–518.
  • Perry, T.P., Murphy, G.N., Kench, P.S., Smithers, S.G., Edinger, E. N., Steneck, R.S., Mumby, P.J. (2013) Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth. Nature Communications, 4, 1402-1409.
  • Kench, P.S., Smithers, S.G., McLean, R.F. (2012) Rapid reef island formation and stability over an emerging reef flat: Bewick Cay, northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Geology, 40, 347–350.
  • Perry, C.T., Kench, P.S., Smithers, S.G., Riegl, B., Yamano, H. O’Leary, M.J. (2011) Implications of reef ecosystem change for the stability and maintenance of coral reef islands? Global Change Biology, 17, 3679-3696.
  • Webb, A.P., Kench, P.S. (2010) Vulnerability of atoll islands to sea level rise: multi-decadal analysis of island change in the central Pacific. Global and Planetary Change, 72, 234–246.
  • Kench P.S., Smithers S.L., McLean R.F. and Nichol S.L. (2009) Holocene reef growth in the Maldives: evidence of a mid-Holocene sea level highstand in the central Indian Ocean. Geology, 37(5), 455-458.
  • Kench, P.S. and Brander, R.W.  (2006) Response of reef island shorelines to seasonal climate oscillations: South Maalhosmadulu atoll, Maldives. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, F01001.
  • Kench, P.S., McLean, R.F., Brander, R.W., Nichol, S.L., Smithers, S.G. , Ford, M.R., Parnell, K.E.  and Aslam, M. (2006) Geological effects of tsunami on mid-ocean atoll islands: The Maldives before and after the Sumatran tsunami. Geology, 34:177-180.
  • Kench, P.S., McLean, R.F. and Nichol, S.L. (2005) New model of reef-island evolution: Maldives, Indian Ocean. Geology, 33, 145-148.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

  • Kench, P.S., Owen, S.D. (2022) Coral Systems. In: Shroder, J.J.F. (Ed.), Treatise on Geomorphology, vol. 8. Elsevier, Academic Press, pp. 622–655.
  • Eaves, A, Kench, P.S., McDonald, G., Dickson, M. (2020) Balancing sustainable coastal management with development in New Zealand. Chapt 5 in Khaiter, P.A., and Erechtchoukova, M.G. (Eds.) Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice. Springer Nature, Switzerland AG 2020 P. 97-118.
  • Vila-Concejo, A., Kench, P.S. (2017) Storms in Coral Reefs. Chapter 9 in Ciavola, P., and Coco G. (Eds.) Coastal Storms: Processes and Impacts. Wiley & Sons Ltd.
  • Kench, P.S., Owen, S.D. (2015) Coral Reef Systems and the Complexity of Hazards. Chapt. 15 In Schroder J.F., Coastal and Marine Hazards, Risks, and Disasters. Elsevier, 34pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-396483-0.00015-7.
  • Kench, P.S. (2012) Compromising Reef Island Shoreline Dynamics: Legacies of the Engineering Paradigm in the Maldives. Chapt. 11 in J.A. Cooper & O.H. Pilkey (Eds.) Pitfalls of Shoreline Stabilization (165-186) Springer, Netherlands.
  • Kench, P.S., Perry, C.T., Spencer, T. (2009) Coral Reefs. Chapter 7 in Slaymaker O., Spencer, T and Embleton-Haman, C. (ed.) Geomorphology and Global Environmental Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 180-213.

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