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Some statistical analyses have been carried out on radiosonde data on atmospheric humidity taken during the period 1990-1993 at two meteorological stations, Oshodi (6° 32'N, 3° 21E) and Kano (12° 5N, 8° 52E) in Nigeria. Monthly means and standard deviations of columnar radio refractivity N and columnar water vapour density ρ have been obtained for the atmospheric columns, 0-3km, 0-10km, and 3-10km. It is found that the correlation coefficient between the monthly means of N and ρ is higher than 0.9 in most of the cases. Consequently, equations of regression have been obtained by means of which measurements of columnar water vapour density ρ can be used to estimate N over Oshodi, and Kano. For instance, line of regression of N upon ρ for Oshodi at the 0-3km atmospheric column is N = (4.93 ± 0.75) ρ + 254.15 ± 11.26.

Keywords: atmospheric humidity, columnar radio refractivity

Nigeria Journal of Pure and Applied Physics Vol. 4(1) 2005: 11-15