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Full Length Research Paper
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Regional evidence of climate change in Nigeria
Peter A. O. Odjugo
Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of
Benin, P. M. B. 1154, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
E-mail:
paoodjugo@yahoo.com. Tel: +2348023718654.
Accepted 7 June 2010 |
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Abstract |
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Most available data on climate change are mainly global
whereas the effects are more at regional levels. It is on this
premise that this study investigated the regional evidences of
climate change using Nigeria as a case study. Mean annual air
temperature from 30 synoptic stations between 1901 and 2005 were
collected from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Lagos and
Meteorological Department in some Airports. The data were
divided into three climatic periods namely 1901-1935, 1936-1970
and 1971-2005 for the purpose of comparison. Time series,
correlation, least square range test, ANOVA and isotherm maps
were some statistical tools used to analyze the data. The
results show that air temperature is steadily increasing
especially from the 1970s. Between 1901 - 1935 and 1936 - 1970
climatic periods, temperature anomalies were below the 1970 -
2005 normal, but 22 years (63%) out of the 35 years were above
the normal between 1971 and 2005. The temperature anomalies
shows that climate change signal is stronger as from the
1970s.The rate of temperature increase is higher in the
semi-arid region than the coastal areas of Nigeria. The current
available pieces of evidence show that Nigeria, like most parts
of the world, is experiencing the basic features of climate
change.
Key words:
Climate change, global warming, Nigeria, climate change signal, temperature. |
