Journal of Meteorology and Climate Science

Detecting changes in Precipitation Extremes Using Global Circulation Models in the Ogun – Osun River Basin, South West Nigeria

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The study evaluates the projected changes in precipitation extremes over the Ogun-Osun River basin. The study was carried out using the ensemble mean of selected CORDEX models. Precipitation extremes were detected using indices such as the Annual total wet-day (prcptot), consecutive wet days (CWD), consecutive dry days (CDD), Total annual RR from very heavy rain days (R99p), Total annual RR from heavy rain days (R95p), Number of heavy rain days (R10mm). These indices were computed for both the historical (1979 - 2005) and the projection periods (2030–2070) under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The results show an increase in the extremes for the projection period with more severity under the RCP8.5 scenario. It can be deduced from the analysis that the projection periods are expected to have increased frequency of flash flood and drought occurrence.

Effect of Rainfall Variability on the Yield of Yams in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria

Elisha Ikpe, Kim Idoma, Yusuf Umar Ahmad — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study examined the effect of rainfall variability on the yield of yams in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Rainfall data was sourced from the archives of the Nigerian Meteorological station, Oshodi, Lagos; the yam yield data was collected from the archives of Benue State Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (BNARDA). The rainfall and yam yield data for 33 years (1988-2021) were used to characterise the yam yield response to rainfall pattern (increase or decrease). Trend line equation was used to show the trend of rainfall, while Pearson's Correlation Coefficient (r) showed the degree of relationship between rainfall and yam yield. The result in the trend line equation showed increase in the total annual rainfall (y = 7.1873x + 1106.4). The result in the yield pattern of yams also showed that yam yield is on the increase (y = 3.3328x + 284.52). The result of the correlation showed that there is a significant correlation between annual rainfall and yam yield (r=0.65), which implies that yam yields increase as rainfall amount increases. The result corroborated the findings of previous researchers which confirmed that rainfall influence yam yield in Benue State. This increase in yields was also attributed to increase in knowledge and adoption of viable adaptation strategies/improved production practices by the farmers. Based on these findings, the study therefore recommend the adoption of viable adaptation strategies for the continuous production of yams towards food security in the area; farmers should be encouraged to adapt measures such as improved seed varieties; use of organic or inorganic fertilizer; use of early maturing varieties among others.

Climate variability environmental stress indication across four rain-fed states in nigeria using multivariate analysis

A.T. Towolawi , O. Oguntoke , B.S. Bada , J.O. Adejuwon, S.B. Ibrahim — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Climate parameters can be used to verify already established model for climate variability or change indication (CCI) of environmental stress (ESI) to ensure agricultural productivity and sustainability. The study verified ESI from 32-year temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation data across four (Benue, Edo, Niger and Ondo) States in Nigeria using multiple regression model. The ESI was higher than 30 from February to April 2005 and May 2007 in Edo, April 2006, January 2013 and 2014 in Bida. The reliability statistics had a Cronbach's value of 0.821, so the data had good internal consistency. The data distributions were highly significant (F = 87.355, p = 0.000) from the Hotelling's t-squared statistic (t 2 ). There was a very strong correlation (0.814) between April and May at 0.01 levels. The model explained 64.2 % variance in the variables. The Durbin-Watson value < 2 indicated positive autocorrelation. The ANOVA indicated a general significance (p < 0.05) in the model's fitness. The computed ESI was meritorious (KMO = 0.859) and valuable (χ2 = 1494.061, p < 0.05) for the factor analysis. The Principal Component Analysis showed that the seven-month rainy periods under Component 1 with higher eigenvalues had been having higher ESI than the dry periods under Component 2. The four study States could be having shortage rainfall distribution and the farmers could easily be getting tired thereby being less productive from ESI. So, there is need for he farmers across the four States to craft strategies for proper adaptation to effects of the climate variability and change.

Perceptions and adoption of agroforestry technology as climate change mitigation strategy among farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

F.O. Idumah, F. Awe, L.A. Orumwense, T.O. Olarewaju, D.O. Oke — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study examined the farmers’ perception and adoption of agroforestry technologies as a climate change mitigation strategy in Oyo State, Nigeria.A multi-stage sampling technique was applied to identify199 respondents from the study area. Data were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics such as Likert scale and Tobit model.Results of analysis showed that47.2% of the sampled respondents were adopters of agroforestry technology.The result further showed the different forms of agroforestry practices adopted by the farmers which include boundary planting, multipurpose trees/shrubs, wind breaks and live fencing.Majority (77.66%) of the adopters’ practice only one agroforestry practice and only 22.34% of them adopted two forms of agroforestry technologieswhile none of them adopted more than two forms of agroforestry technologies. Tobit analysis revealed that gender, age, education level, access to extension services, farming experience and farm size were positive and significant(at 5% level) factors in determining the intensity of adoption of agroforestry technologies among the farmers.The respondents agreed that agroforestry improves soil fertility and reduces the microclimate of the area. Many constraints were discovered to militate against the adoption of agroforestry technologies by farmers in the study area. These include lack of knowledge and required skills on agroforestry, long gestation period of trees, scarcity of land for tree planting and lack of planting materials. Others are lack of technical assistance, competition among trees and arable crops on farmland and illegal felling of trees. In view of the findings, the study recommends that efforts should be geared towards increasing adoption of agroforestry technology through enlightenment and sensitization of farmers on the importance of agroforestry and the need for its adoption, so as to enjoy the benefits of agroforestry practices in the study area.

Effect of GDD on the Growth and Yield of Groundnut in a Forest-Savanna Transition Zone of Nigeria

Y. Rabiu, A.A. Makinde, A.M. Yamusa, A.I. Isaiah — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Temperature as a limiting factor to groundnut production had affected groundnut economic value in a forest-savannah transition of Nigeria. A field trial was carried out to evaluate the effect Growing Degree Day (GDD) of groundnut intercropped with maize at Abeokuta during the early 2018 cropping season. The experiment was arranged in 6×3 factorial and laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Experimental factors were the cropping system of sole planting of three groundnut cultivars SAMNUT-24 (GNUT1), SAMNUT-25 (GNUT2), SAMNUT-26 (GNUT3) and their intercrop combinations with maize (SAMMAZ-15), GDD was estimated on emergence, flowering, pod formation, seed formation, and maturity phases. The results of GDD showed that intercrop significantly influence (p≤0.05) growing degree days (GDD) of groundnut at emergence (2225.50 ºday) and flowering (2700.96 ºday) phases and mulching was significant (p≤0.05) at seed formation phase, intercrop showed significant influence on GDD and yield of Groundnut

Public perception of climate change impact on health and environment in Taraba State, Nigeria

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Globally the impacts of climate change have been reported widely. These impacts are in the IPCC 6 th report as a red alert situation’ on the interference and activities of humans consequently, the impacts of climate change on human health and the physical environment in Nigeria have also been reported. Natural phenomena such as global warming, ozone depletion, desertification and general environmental degradation are some of the issues causing widespread of some diseases reported. This study assessed public perception of climate change impacts on human health and the environment in Taraba State. Simple random sampling was used to design the survey. Data on public perception of climate change, health and the environment were obtained from 490 respondents using questionnaire survey. Findings from the study revealed that 78% of the respondents are aware of climate change concept. Majority 76% of the respondents reported that the major source of information about climate change was electronic media (television and radio). Respondents reported that climate change has negative impacts on health which includes outbreak of malaria, cholera and typhoid and environment which includes floods and loss of farm land. Based on these findings, this study therefore recommends a comprehensive environmental education to citizens on climate change.

Exploring the relationship between rainfall characteristic and the yield of Irish potato on the Jos Plateau Nigeria

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The research analyses rainfall characteristics on the yield of Irish potato on the Jos Plateau. Secondary data on climatic elements was obtained from Nigerian Meteorological Agency Abuja while crop yield data was abstracted from the official records of Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, Abuja. Both climatic and crop data were obtained for the period of 30 years (1988 – 2017). The research made use of correlation and regression analysis to establish the relationship between rainfall characteristics and yield of irish potatoe. Mean annual rainfall of 1245mm, length of raining season of 173 days, seasonality index of 0.94, onset date of rains 14th April and cessation of 3rd October are established mean rainfall values established in the study. Results obtain shows that length of raining season exhibit a strong positive relationship with the yield of Irish potato with a correlation coefficient = 0.727 with a significant level at 0.01% confidence level. The Onset date also exhibited a negative and strong relationship with the yield of Irish potato with r value of -0.521. The combined effect of rainfall was found to be significantly strong on the yield of Irish with a correlation coefficient of 0.791 and a coefficient of determinant r² = 62.5%,the research therefore concludes that the final yield of crops is not entirely dependent on total annual rainfall, rather on the overall characteristic of the rainfall. It is therefore recommended that further researches be conducted with respect to phenological growth stages of crops and their climatic requirements at the growth stages.

Trend Analysis of Hydrometeorological Time Series under the Scaling Hypothesis

N.M. Babangida, I. Abubakar — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test is one of the commonly used statistical tests for detecting changes
in hydrometeorological time series. The test is derived as a function of the ranks of observations
making it distribution free as well as less sensitive to outliers and non-homogeneous time series.
However, climatic variability which is present in such series in the form of autocorrelation violates
its independent observations assumption and may lead to erroneous conclusions. The scaling
hypothesis has been proposed for modeling such variability in natural time series. This study
analyzed 50 years (1971-2020) observed data of rainfall, minimum temperature, maximum
temperature and wind speed (obtained from NiMet Kano airport station) for statistically significant
trends at monthly, seasonal and annual timescales. The data was analyzed using MK trend test and
its modified versions for the effect of autocorrelation and scaling/anti-scaling behavior on the trend
tests. The numbers of significant trends were found to reduce from 9, 7, 8 and 2 (when Mk trend
test was used) to 9, 7, 6, and 0 (when both autocorrelation and scaling/anti-scaling was considered)
for minimum temperature, maximum temperature, total rainfall and average wind speed
respectively. Thus some significant trends under independent observations assumption turn out to be spurious trends when the effect of dependence was considered. Moreover all significant trends
were found to be positive for rainfall and temperature series except for August that shows a
negative trend in maximum temperature. On the other hand, no change in wind speed was observed
at all timescales. The results thus indicated a warming and wetter climate for Kano, which will
most probably influence other variables including evapotranspiration and stream flow. The results
also showed the importance of considering the effect of climatic variability in climate change
studies.

Turbid water treatment with Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) Fibers and Moringa seeds (Moringa oleifera): An Application of Nature-Based Solutions

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Applying Nature-based Solutions (NBS) in water treatment is increasingly gaining popularity globally as attest by many studies all over the world. This study explored household usable naturebased water treatment techniques from locally available plants of Kenaf Fibers and moringa seeds in the treatment of turbid surface water in Abeokuta, Nigeria. (How did you get the kenaf and moringa? Please state it). The kenaf Fibers were pre-treated with a hypochlorite solution and sundried, and the moringa seeds were pulverized. Four treatment options were investigated: raw (turbid) water with the moringa seed powder alone, secondly with kenaf fibers alone and thirdly with kenaf-moringa combination, and the moringa-kenaf combination. Water samples were collected at the end of each ‘treatment’ option and tested for selected water quality parameters. The biosorption efficiency was established through a comparative assessment of the pre-and posttreatment concentrations of the selected parameters. Expectedly, the treatment options had different effects on the water quality parameters. However, Kenaf-moringa and moringa-kenaf both had the most prominent effect. Moringa-kenaf combination recorded best turbidity (2.73 NTU) and iron (6.16 mg/L) removal, respectively. Kenaf-moringa also recorded the best removal for zinc (0.02 mg/L), bicarbonate (122.00 mg/L), magnesium (22.00 mg/L), and water hardness. This justifies the potential for the combination than the use of the individual plant as a household usable NBS water treatment approach .

A multicriteria GIS-based analysis modelling and Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) for flood risk mapping in the Delimi catchment, Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria

I.S. Laka, A.A. Ibimode , C.J. Anyamele, G.T. Maigida — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study identified and mapped areas vulnerable to flood risk in the Delimi River Catchment of Jos area, Nigeria. The ALOS-PALSAR DEM (12.5m) from the Alaska Satellite Facility downlinks was employed to generate relevant morphometric parameters namely corridor, slope, and elevation which are identified drivers of floods in the catchment, while the area coverage of each soil type within the study catchment was sourced from FAO Digital Soil Map of the World (DSMW) and Building Form shapefile from Eagle Eye Geographics. The multi-criteria Analysis model and the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) were employed in a Geographical Information system (GIS) environment using the ArcMap 10 Software to map and synthesize these drivers. The hierarchy ratings of the drivers for the catchment based on expert opinions are corridor, slope, elevation, and soil type (38, 37, 21, and 4 percent respectively), and a consistency ratio of 0.06. Results showed that about 9.3 km² (5.7%) of the catchment area is at risk of flooding. This at-risk area accommodates 5,306 buildings out of which 445 buildings are within the Very High-Risk zone. At the end of the study, the area at risk of inundation was delineated and the number of buildings within the risk zone was ascertained. This information will assist decision-makers and watershed managers in effectively developing strategies for the control and mitigation of future flood occurrences in these areas of the catchment.

Agro-climatic zonation based on rainfall distribution over

Akinyemi Gabriel Omonijo , Adewale Isaac Olutumise , Oladitan Titilaylo Olabimpe — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The study focuses on the agro-climatic zonation based on rainfall distribution patterns using ArcGIS for mapping; it also employed frequency distribution to analyze rainfall data in Ondo State, Nigeria using rainfall data of 30 years’ period (1991 – 2020). The result showed that rainfall amount is not a serious problem in plant growth in the humid tropics compare to the availability of soil moisture which is a major factor. The results of seasonal distribution patterns in accordance with the seasonal method employed in this study shows that January and February (dry months) recorded rainfall ranged from 3 mm to about 27 mm; the rainfall recorded ranged from about 95 mm to 130 mm in the months of March and April (Transition into wet season), while the recorded rainfall for the months of May to July (Wet season I) is about 190 mm and 275 mm. The rainfall recorded in the month of August (little dry season) is between 166 mm and about 208 mm. The rainfall data used in this study revealed month of August as little dry season contrary to results of some studies that shows that little dry season is now a July – August phenomenon, and not just August alone. The rainfall recorded ranged from about 203 mm to about 275 mm in the months of September and October (Wet season II), while that of November and December (Transition into dry season) is between 11 mm and about 40 mm. Although several studies have speculated that climate change will make weather and climate of some countries in Sub-Sahara Africa become unstable, the results show that little dry season popularly called “August Break” is anomalous. It shows clearly from this study that rain-fed agriculture is most viable in between Transition to Wet Season and Wet Season II. The recorded annual rainfall amounts ranged from about 1200 mm to 1600 mm in the northern side and between 1800 mm and about 2000 mm in the southern side of the study area. It is observed from the results of this study that rains do break after initial rains. Therefore, it is important to advice farmers not to rush to plant crops such as maize with early rains because there is no assurance that the rains will not stop and this will lead to plants wither before steady rains.