Manila Observatory launches year-long celebration of 160th anniversary
s human beings, we do not make our own light. Instead, we reflect light that God creates.
News & Features
ENHANCED AIR QUALITY MONITORING FOR THE PHILIPPINES: Pandora Instruments Turnover Ceremony at the Manila Observatory
A ceremonial turnover of the Pandora instruments, part of the Pan-Asia Partnership for Geospatial Air Pollution Information Project and the Pandora Asia Network (PAPGAPI-PAN) Philippines Project, was conducted by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) at the...
Life imitates a̶r̶t̶ climate fiction: SB60s, where climate action is discussed, not funded
Bernardine B. de Belen At the top of my Did Not Finish pile, which pertains to books you put down before finishing, is The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is a climate fiction novel putting us in the extremely...
ACT2025: Beyond Dialoguing to Action and Support to Avert, Minimize, and Address Loss and Damage
By Tonichi Regalado (KLIMA – Manila Observatory) Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025 (ACT2025) partners, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCAD) and the Manila Observatory (MO) held a side event entitled “Beyond Dialoguing to Action and Support to avert, minimize and...
Supertyphoon Odette: Precautionary Tale
By: Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña, Yla Gloria Marie P. Paras, Jameela Joy M. Reyes When Typhoon Odette ravaged the Philippines in December 2021, many were caught by surprise. While families knew what to do in case of rain, hardly anyone saw what...
PRESS RELEASE
AUGUST 20, 2021 Filipino climate scientists warn: weather extremes in the Philippines to worsen with further warming A higher global temperature will bring about more frequent and more intense weather extremes in many regions of the world, including the Philippines. This is the...
Mapping the Impacts of Tropical Depression Dujuan(Auring) in the Eastern Visayasand CaragaRegion
Summary •Several areas in Southern Philippines experienced accumulated 24-hour rainfall exceeding 150 mm during the onslaught of Tropical Depression Auring on Feb. 20-22, 2021. •Multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar images detected flooding in the municipalities of San Miguel, Tago and Tandag City in the...
New Year’s Eve 2021 Particle Pollution Measurements in Metro Manila
By: Jose Gabriel Abalos, Jarl Tynan Collado, Paola Angela Bañaga, Grace Betito, Zenn Marie Cainglet, Aubrey May De Francisca, Xzann Garry Vincent Topacio, Christine L. Chan, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, James Bernard Simpas, Genevieve Rose Lorenzo, Melliza Cruz, Connor Stahl, Armin Sorooshian, Nofel Lagrosas,...
Impacts of Taal Volcano Phreatic Eruption (12 January 2020) on the Environment and Population: Satellite-Based Observations Compared with Historical Records
By Ma. Flordeliza P. Del Castillo1, Patricia Mae J. Paraiso1, May Celine T.M. Vicente1, Ma. Laurice P. Jamero2, Gemma T. Narisma3,4 1 Geomatics for Environment and Development, Manila Observatory 2 Resilience Collaboratory, Manila Observatory 3 Regional Climate Systems 4 Department of Physics, Ateneo...
New Year’s Eve 2020 Particle Pollution Measurements in Metro Manila
By Grace Betito, Gabrielle Leung, Paola Angela Bañaga, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Genevieve Rose Lorenzo, Zenn Marie Cainglet, Aubrey May De Francisca, Xzann Garry Vincent Topacio, Imee Delos Reyes, Melliza Cruz, Rachel Braun, Alexander McDonald, Connor Stahl, Nofel Lagrosas, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, James...
Deepening the Understanding of Clouds and Aerosols Through Shared Science
This August 25, the NASA P-3B started its first flight over the Philippines, gathering samples to understand the interaction between aerosols and clouds. This flight marks the start of the one-and-a-half-months flight campaign of the Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes – Philippines Experiment...
NASA and the Manila Observatory establish partnership for CAMP2Ex
In the pursuit of understanding how aerosols affect climate and weather, as well as agriculture, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) partnered with the Manila Observatory for the Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex). CAMP2Ex is an airborne mission of...
Did the Indonesian forest fire haze of 2013 reach the Philippines?
Authors: Genie Lorenzo, Liz Cruz, Nofel Lagrosas, Faye Cruz, James Simpas, Brent Holben, Susana Dorado, Victoriano Tobias, and Gemma Narisma Date: August 2013 From 14-23 June 2013, Singapore, parts of Malaysia and Indonesia were blanketed in a dangerous haze as fires burned in the neighboring...
Bridging the Climate Knowledge Gap Through Storytelling
by Christine R Mapa Building on the success of its inaugural session, the AmBag Anniversary lecture series returned on May 23, 2025, with its second installment: ‘Dugsong: Mga Tinipong Kwento ng Klima mula sa Oscar M Lopez (OML) Center’, presented by Ms. Kato...
KMITL donates GNSS receivers to DSD, marks start of collaboration
The Data and Sensor Development (DSD) Laboratory welcomed colleagues from the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) who visited the Manila Observatory on 15-16 May 2025. Their visit marks the beginning of the two institutions’ research collaboration on space weather, earthquake precursors,...
AQD Laboratory welcomes colleagues to the Manila Observatory, looks for points of collaboration
The Air Quality Dynamics laboratory welcomed guests from Clean Air Asia, PRC Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Peking University, and QC Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Department on 10 April 2025. They went on a tour around the Manila Observatory grounds, looking at archives and the instruments we use to...
Manila Observatory Opens Milestone Celebration with the Launch of AmBag Lecture Series
by Christine R. Mapa Manila Observatory kicked off its 160th anniversary celebration on April 25, 2025 at Heyden Hall with the first of a series of lectures featuring conversations on science, service, and society dubbed AmBag. AmBag or “Agham sa Banig” started as...
UMAK Magisterial Lecture: Is the Climate Emergency Real? What Can We Do About It? by Dr. Antonio La Viña | Nov 25, 2024
A Meeting of Missions: Manila Observatory at the Fastenaktion Workshop
Written by Gab Mesina From 24-26 March 2025, representatives from the Manila Observatory participated in the Fastenaktion Policy Influencing workshop held at the St. Michael Retreat House in Antipolo City. This event marks the beginning of a promising partnership between the Manila Observatory...
Lessons for the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage: A Case Study on Accessibility of the People’s Survival Fund in the Philippines
Climate change is here and vulnerable communities need real support! The latest policy research paper from the Klima Center tackles the People’s Survival Fund and its attempts to provide funding to vulnerable communities.
Particle Pollution Levels in Metro Manila and Other Urban Areas: New Year 2025 Measurements
by Mariane Desiree Avendaño, Zenn Marie Cainglet, Ophel Eliza Rabaja, Paola Banaga, Melliza Templonuevo Cruz, James B. Simpas, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ, and Fr. Daniel McNamara, SJ New Year’s Day is a global celebration marking the passage of time...
Manila Observatory at the ASIA-AQ Science Team Meeting
The Manila Observatory participated in the ASIA-AQ 2025 Science Team Meeting, held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, from January 20 to 24, 2025. The meeting was attended by scientists and officials who discussed initial findings from the recent ASIA-AQ mission...
MANILA OBSERVATORY FEATURED AT UNFCCC NON-ECONOMIC LOSSES TECHNICAL PAPER
The Manila Observatory’s research initiative, Creating Markers for Detecting Non-Economic Loss and Damage (NELD) in Coastal Communities in the Philippines (La Union), has been featured as a contributing case study in a technical paper onNon-Economic Losses (NELs). This paper was developed by the...
Manila Observatory with ACT2025 organizes Loss and Damage side event at COP29
by Ben Te and Jayvy R. Gamboa How has the International Loss and Damage Architecture developed over the past year?What can we learn from communities on the ground?Are we doing enough in the fight against climate change? These were the questions that we...
The Manila Observatory at the iCACGP-IGAC Conference 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The Manila Observatory (MO) participated at the 16th International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (iCACGP) Symposium and 18th International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Science Conference (iCACGP-IGAC Conference 2024) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on September 9-13, 2024. Scientist from the Manila Observatory,...
The Manila Observatory at the AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) Science and Application Exchange
The Manila Observatory participated during the AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) Science and Application Exchange, held from September 17 to 19, 2024, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, United States. AERONET, established by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and international collaborators, is...
Manila Observatory at the 4th International Vietnam Conference on Earth and Environmental Sciences (iVCEES-2024)
A special session for CARE for SEA Megacities and CORDEX-SEA was held from 26-28 November 2024, as part of the 4th International Vietnam Conference on Earth and Environmental Sciences (iVCEES-2024) in Quy Nhon, Vietnam. The conference was hosted by Rencontres du Vietnam, International...
What would Paris say about Baku’s climate finance deal?
by Tony La Viña, Ben Galil Te, Jayvy Gamboa as originally posted on Rappler Opinion Page It would be an injustice to simply measure where we are right now in terms of climate action only by looking at how far we have come...
WCRP Academy Support Unit launches at the Manila Observatory
The WCRP Academy Support Unit officially launched at the Manila Observatory on 7 October 2024, marking the first WCRP support office in the Global South. The event highlighted the Academy’s mission to promote climate science training and action, with a focus on the...
Addressing loss and damage from climate change in the Philippines: Lived experiences of indigenous farmers in Atok, Benguet
The Manila Observatory, through the generosity of Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southeast Asia and in partnership with Benguet State University, developed a policy brief addressing the complex issue of Loss and Damage (L&D), with a specific focus on indigenous farmers in Atok, a municipality in...
Manila Observatory at the Internet of Things (IoT) Conference
The Manila Observatory participated in the Internet of Things (IoT) Conference held on October 29-30, 2024, at the SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City, Philippines. The IoT conference aimed to bring together industry, government, and academia to raise awareness on IoT technology and...
The Philippines’ burden of hosting the Board of the Fund for Loss and Damage
Tony La Viña, Gab Mesina, and Jayvy R. Gamboa In a pivotal moment in the global response to climate change, the Board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), back in July 2024, selected the Philippines as the Board’s...