Mean air surface temperature anomalies in the humid south – south zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The concept of regional climate is very important in understanding global climate change. Changes in surface air temperature are primary measures of global climate change. In this work, the analyses of the mean air surface temperature dynamics from 1901 to 2000 in six cities located in the South- South humid zone of Nigeria, which comprised four ecological zones namely; coastal barrier island, mangrove swamp forest, fresh water swamps and lowland rainforest were presented. The analyses showed that at climatological scale of 33 years, that there were some slightly elevated temperatures, which remained nearly stable over the entire period of study, grouped into three climatological scales. The results showed that an anomaly of 4.5^oC was recorded in 1932, 1935 and 1983 in the first, second and third climatological scales respectively. Also observed in 1936 and 1942 were the mean air surface temperature that recorded 4.5^oC respectively as maximum on its warming trend, whereas on its cooling trend a minimum of -2.5^oC in the first and second climatological scale and -1.5^oC in the third climatological scale were observed.

Keywords: Temperature, climate change, climatological scale, humid zone, Nigeria

International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(4): 428 - 431, 2010