Spatial Variability of Lower Tropospheric Visibility and Meteorology of Urban centers in Nigeria

Abstract

Ohanuna, C, Weli, VE. and Nwagbara, MO.

The study analyzed the spatial variability of atmospheric visibility and meteorological parameters over selected cities in Nigeria. This study employed the use of secondary data which includes a 36 years (1982-2017) visibility, rainfall, relative humidity, windspeed and temperature data which was gotten from the weather register of the selected meteorological stations. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and student t-test were employed in the analysis of data. Research findings revealed that revealed that the coastal cities witnessed better visibility than the northern part of the study area especially during the dry season. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed statistically significant variation in visibility, temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and windspeed at 95% probability level across the selected locations. The student t-test statistics also revealed that a statistically significant difference in visibility, rainfall, windspeed and relative humidity occurs between the wet and dry seasons in most of the selected cities. The study recommends that awareness campaigns and enlightenment programmes be undertaken by various meteorological authorities and other relevant government agencies to improve the awareness of members of the public on the need to adhere strictly to weather alerts and warning systems.

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