Indices based analysis of drought and aridity in parts of Nigerian’s Savannah. Nigerian
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Date
2017
Authors
Adegun, O.
Ayeni, A.O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Geography, Nasarawa State University
Abstract
The study assemed the occurrence of drought and levels of aridity at 5 selected areas in Nigeria's savannah region, between 1980 and 2010. The smement of drought was based on Percent of Normal Index, Rainfall Anomaly Index, and Normalised Rainfall Index, while Bodyko Aridity Index and De Martonne Aridity Index were used to characterise the degree of dryness. The results showed a generally lower occurrence of drought. Results based on the Percent of Normal Index categorised 19, 13, 18, 13 and 21 years as being gear normal and 4, 5, 4, 3, and 3 years as years in which slight drought was experienced at Bauchi, Ilorin, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Minna respectively. The Rainfall Anomaly Index classified a total of 5, 3, 7, 6, and 6 years as extremely dry, while the Normalized Rainfall Index categorised 5,9,7, 9, and 6 years as being extremely below normal at Bauchi, Ilorin, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Minna respectively. The annual level of aridity based on Budyko Index showed that the areas experienced a predominantly semi-humid phase during this period. Based on De Martoane Aridity Index, a total of 9, 2, and 6 years were characterised as semi-arid at Bauchi, Ilorin and Kaduna respectively, 29 years were categorised as dry at Maiduguri, while 4 years were classified as semi arid at Minna. In spite of the normal to wet conditions that is currently prevalent in this drought prone region, the study recommends that a proactive drought management approach should be adopted. This would assist in forestalling some of the negative consequences of drought and ensure sustainable management of water resources at all times
Description
Scholarly articles
Keywords
Aridity , Drought , Indes , Savannah , Water Resources , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES
Citation
Adegun, O. and A. O. Ayeni (2017): Indices based analysis of drought and aridity in parts of Nigerian’s Savannah. Nigerian Journal of Tropical Geography, 8(1): 1441 – 1453