FUW TRENDS IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(A Peer Review Journal)
e–ISSN: 2408–5162; p–ISSN: 2048–5170
keywords: Indicators, rainfall, maximum air temperature & relative humidity, climate change
This work identified, analyzed and interpreted some statistical indicators of climate change in Oyo, Nigeria. Data on daily rainfall amount (mm), maximum air temperature (oC) and maximum relative humidity (%) for Oyo metropolis was sourced from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan and used in the study. The data span a period of 34 years (1977-2010). The statistical indicators indentified include; significant difference in the distribution of wet and dry days for each month over the period, increasing number of dry days and decreasing number of wet days over the period. Additional indicators identified include; significant difference in the distribution of warmer and colder maximum air temperature for each month over the period, increasing number of warmer days and decreasing number of colder days over the period. The last set of indicators include significant difference in the distribution of high and low relative humidity for each month over the period, increasing number of high relative humidity days and decreasing number of low relative humidity days over the period. One of the statistical methods employed in analyzing the indicators include; Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance test for ascertaining significant differences in the distribution of wet and dry days, distribution of warmer and colder maximum air temperature and the distribution of high and low relative humidity for each month over the period. The linear trend analysis was another method used in identifying the presence of increasing or decreasing trend in the distribution of the number dry and wet days, the number of warmer and colder maximum air temperature days and in the distribution of high and low relative humidity days. The study concludes that with these indicators, climate change is fast setting into Oyo metropolis, Nigeria and finally recommends that the best way to communicate the presence of climate change is through the use of indicators.
Beard CB, Eisen RJ, Barker CM, Garofalo JF, Hahn M, Hayden M, Monaghan AJ, Ogden NH, & Schramm PJ 2016. The impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: A scientific assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program. https://health2016.globalchange.gov. Callendar GS 1938. The artificial production of carbon dioxide and its influence on temperature. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 64: 223–237. Capparelli V, Franzke C, Vecchio M, Freeman MP, Watkins NW & Carbone V 2013. A spatiotemporal analysis of U.S. station temperature trends over the last century. J. Geophys. Res., 118: 1-8. Etheridge DM 1996. Natural and anthropogenic changes in atmospheric CO2 over the last 1000 years . J. Geophys. Res., 101: 4115–4128. Francey RJ & Farquhar GD 1982. An explanation of C-13/C-12 variations in tree rings. Nature, 297: 28–31. Garbutt DJ, Stem RD, Denett MD & Eiston J 1981. A comparative of the rainfall climate of eleven places in W/Africa using two-phase part model for daily rainfall. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biokl., 29: 137-155. IPCC, (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 2001. Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 881. Joseph SB & Rufus TA 2003. Surface Temperature Anomalies in the River Niger Basin Development Authority Areas, Nigeria. J. Atmospheric & Climate Sci., 3: 532-537. Le Treut H, Somerville R, Cubasch U, Ding Y, Mauritzen C, Mokssit A, Peterson T & Prather M 2007. Historical Overview of Climate Change. In: Climate Change 2007: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, USA. Neftel A, Moor E, Oeschger H & Stauffer B, 1985. Evidence from polar ice cores for the increase in atmospheric CO2 in the past 2 centuries. Nature, 315: 45–47. Oladugba AV, Ukaegbu EC, Udom AU, Madukaife MS, Ugah TE & Sanni SS 2014. Principles of Applied Statistics, p. 318. Steele LP, Francey RJ, Dick AL & Derek N 1996. Atmospheric methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and nitrous oxide from Cape Grim air samples analysed by gas chromatography. Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 107–110. US Environmental Protection Agency 2016. Climate change indicators in the United States, 2016. Fourth edition, EPA 430-R-16-004. www.epa.gov/climate-indicators.
