Evaluation of rainfall trends in Nigeria for 30 years (1978-2007)
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Date
2010-11-04
Authors
Obot, N. I.
Chendo, M. A. C.
Udo, S.O.
Ewona, I. O.
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Abstract
The issue of climate change appears to be on the fore burner and it cannot be ascertained to occur
without evidence. Rainfall is one of the climatic factors that can indicate climate change. In this work,
the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test is used to test for significant trend in rainfall in Nigeria through
randomly selected locations in the six geopolitical zones within a 30 years period (1978-2007). The
selected locations are; Maiduguri (13°10',11°50') in the North East, Kaduna (7°27',10°31') in the North
West, Lokoja (6°45',7°43') in the North Central, Ibadan (3°53',7°22') in the South West, Enugu (7°30',6°27')
in the South East and Calabar (8°28',4°57') in the South South. During the 30 years period, the yearly
average rainfalls (mm) were 580.5, 1187.5, 1228.7, 1317.2, 1753.8 and 2925.6, respectively. While the rest
of the locations had no significant trend yet Maiduguri showed an increasing trend at a rate of 9.88
mm/year, where formally the trend there from the period 1961-1990 was decreasing. This change could
either be a problem or blessing to dwellers in that location and there is need for continuous monitoring.
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Keywords
Mann-Kendall test, rainfall, significant trend, six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
Citation
Obot N. I., Chendo M.A.C., Udo S. O., and Ewona I. O. (2010). Evaluation of rainfall trends in Nigeria for 30 years (1978-2007). International Journal of Physical Sciences Vol. 5(14), 2217-2222.