Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Variability of daily precipitation over Nigeria

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study identified coherent daily precipitation regions in Nigeria by analyzing the spatial and temporal homogeneity of daily precipitation; investigating the dependence of wet day amount (WDAMT) and percentage of wet day (PWD) on latitude, longitude, elevation and distance from the ocean and finally regionalizing the daily precipitation stations. Non-parametric spatial homogeneity test was carried out on daily precipitation over 23 stations in Nigeria between 1992 and 2000 while the temporal analysis was done from 1971 to 2000. Regression analysis was used to determine the dependence of WDAMT and PWD on latitude, longitude, elevation and distance from the ocean. Principal component and cluster analyses were conducted to regionalize the precipitation stations. Seven homogeneous groups of stations were identified. Elevation explains 19.9 and 4.8 % of the variance in WDAMT and PWD, respectively, while latitude explains 76.2 % of variance in PWD. Eight principal components that explain 63.1 % of the variance in the daily precipitation data were retained for cluster analysis. Precipitation in the six daily precipitation regions that emerged from the cluster analysis is influenced by the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, latitude, distance from ocean and southwesterlies while the northern region alone is influenced by the African Easterly Wave. In addition, precipitation in all the regions is influenced by topography. Low to medium spatial coherence exists in the precipitation regions. The spatial variations of PWD and WDAMT have implications for agricultural productivity and water resources in different parts of the country.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adejuwon JO, Odekunle TO (2006) Variability and severity of the “Little Dry Season” in southwestern Nigeria. J Clim 19:1–8. doi:10.1175/JCLI3642.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adejuwon JO, Balogun EE, Adejuwon SA (1990) On the annual and seasonal patterns of rainfall fluctuations in sub-Saharan West Africa. Int J Climatol 10:839–849

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adeniyi MO (2009) Determination of heat stress in the tropical urban area of ibadan southwestern Nigeria. Int J Nat Appl Sci 5(3):235–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Adeniyi MO (2014) Sensitivity of different convection schemes in RegCM4.0 for simulation of precipitation during the Septembers of 1989 and 1998 over West Africa. Theor Appl Climatol 115(1–2):305–322. doi:10.1007/s00704-013-0881-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adeniyi MO, Nymphas EF (2013) Estimation of surface energy fluxes from bare ground in a tropical station using Priestley Taylor method. J Sci Technol 33(1):41–54. doi:10.4314/just.v33i1.5

    Google Scholar 

  • Adeniyi MO, Oladiran EO (2000) Air sea interaction: ENSO phenomenon as it affects periodicity of flooding in Nigeria. J Sci Res 6(1):30–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Adeniyi MO, Ogunsola OE, Nymphas EF, Oladiran EO (2009) Food security measures during uncertain climatic conditions in Nigeria. Afr J Food Agric, Nutr Dev (AJFAND) 9(2):652–677

    Google Scholar 

  • Amissah-Arthur A (1997) Assessment of the production potential of maize in rotation with soybeans across Agroecological zones of Nigeria. Ph D thesis, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, pp 266

  • Amissah-Arthur A, Jagtap SS (1999) Geographic variation in growing season rainfall during three decades in Nigeria using principal component analyses. Theor Appl Climatol 63:107–116. doi:10.1007/s007040050096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ati OF, Stitger CJ, Oladipo EO (2002) A comparison of methods to determine the onset of the growing season in northern Nigeria. Int J Climatol 22:731–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ati OF, Stitger CJ, Iguisis EO, Afolayan JO (2009) Profile of rainfall change and variability in the Northern Nigeria, 1953–2002. Res J Environ Earth Sci 1(2):58–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayoade JO (1997) Climatic variability. In: Jagtap SS (ed) Mitigating the effects of climatic variability on food production Ibadan. IITA, Ikoyi, pp 31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Bello NJ (1996) An investigation of the characteristics of the onset and cessation of the rains in Nigeria. Theoret Appl Climatol 54(3–4):161–173. doi:10.1007/BF00865159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brito-Castillo L, Diaz-Castro S, Salinas-Zavala CA, Douglas AV (2003) Reconstruction of long-term winter streamflow in the Gulf of California continental watershed. J Hydrol 278:39–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattell RB (1966) The scree test for the number of factors. Multivar Behav Res 1:245–276. doi:10.1207/s15327906mbr0102_10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charney J, Quirk WJ, Chow SH, Kornfield J (1977) A comparative study of the effects of albedo change on drought in semi-arid regions. J Atmos Sci 34:1366–1385. doi:10.1175/1520-0469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen GTJ, Jiang ZH, Wu MC (2003) Spring heavy rain events in Taiwan during warm episodes and the associated large-scale conditions. Mon Weather Rev 131:1173–1188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark WAV, Hosking PL (1986) Statistical methods for geographers. Wiley 518, pp ISBN 0471818070

  • Ekpoh IJ, Nsa E (2011) Extreme climatic variability in Northwestern Nigeria: an analysis of rainfall trends and patterns. J Geogr Geol 3(1):51–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Fasona M, Tadros M, Abiodun B, Omojola A (2011) Local climate forcing and eco-climatic complexes in the wooded savannah of western Nigeria. Nat Res 2:155–166. doi:10.4236/nr.2011.23021

    Google Scholar 

  • Foken T (2003) Angewandte Meteorologie. Mikrometeorologische Methoden. Springer, Heidelberg

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler HJ, Blenkinsop S, Tebaldi C (2007) Linking climate change modelling to impacts studies: recent advances in downscaling techniques for hydrological modelling. Int J Climatol 27(12):1547–1578. doi:10.1002/joc.1556

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong X, Richman MB (1995) On the application of cluster analysis to growing season precipitation data in north America east of the Rockies. J Climatol 8:897–931

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillaker H, Andsager K (2008) Daily climate data quality control procedures of the IOWA state climatologist. J Serv Climatol 2(3):1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes TRH, Crow WT, Hain C (2013) Spatial patterns in timing of the diurnal temperature cycle. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 17:3695–3706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jagtap SS (1995) Changes in annual seasonal and monthly rainfall in Nigeria during 1961–1990 and consequences for agriculture. Discov Innov 7(4):311–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Janicot S, Trzaska S, Poccard I (2001) Summer Sahel-ENSO teleconnection and decadal time series SST variations. Clim Dyn 18:303–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janicot S, Thorncroft CD, Ali A, asencio N, Berry G, Bock O, Bourles B, Ganiaux G, Chauvin F,Deme A, Kergoat L,Lafore JP, Lavaysse C,Lebel T, Marticorena B, Mounier F, Nedelec P, Redelsperger JL, Ravegnani F, Reeves CE, Roca R, de Rosnay P, Schlager H, Sultan B, Tomasini M, Ulanovsky A, ACMAD forecasters team (2008) Large-scale overview of the summer monsoon over West Africa during the AMMA field experiment in 2006. Ann Geophys 26: 2569–2595. Available at: www.ann-geophys.net/26/2569/2008/

  • Jolliffe IT (1972) Discarding variables in a principal component analysis I: artificial data. Applied statistics 21: 160–173. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2346488

  • Jolliffe IT (2002) Principal component analysis, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Joly M, Voldoire A (2009) Influence of ENSO on the West African monsoon : temporal aspects and atmospheric processes. J Clim 22(12):3193–3210. doi:10.1175/2008JCLI2450.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser HF (1960) The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educ Psychol Meas 20:141–151. doi:10.1177/001316446002000116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantua NJ (2001) The pacific decadal oscillation. In: McCracken MC, Perry JS (eds) The encyclopedia of global environmental change, vol. 1, The earth system: physical and chemical dimension of global environmental change, pp 592–594

  • Odekunle TO (2004) Determining rainfall onset and retreat dates in Nigeria. J Hum Ecol 16(4):239–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Oguntunde PG, Abiodun BJ, Lischeid G (2011) Rainfall trends in Nigeria, 1901–2000. J Hydrol 411:207–218. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.09.037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omotosho JB (1992) Long-range prediction of the onset and end of the raining season in West African Sahel. Int J Climatol 12:369–382. doi:10.1002/joc.3370120405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omotosho JB, Balogun AA, Ogunjobi K (2000) Predicting monthly and seasonal rainfall onset and cessation of the rainy season in West Africa using only surface data. Int J Climatol 20:865–880. doi:10.1002/1097-0088(20000630)20:8<865:AID-JOC505>3.0.CO;2-R

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peres-Neto PR, Jackson DA, Somers KM (2005) How many principal components? stopping rules for determining the number of non-trivial axes revisited. Comput Stat Data Anal 49:74–997. doi:10.1016/j.csda.2004.06.015

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips ID, Denning H (2007) Winter daily precipitation variability over the south West Peninsula of England. Theor Appl Climatol 87:103–122. doi:10.1007/s00704-005-0226-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowell DP (2001) Teleconnections between the tropical Pacific and the Sahel. Q J R Meteorol Soc 127:1683–1706. doi:10.1002/qj.49712757512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spak S, Holloway T, Lynn B, Goldberg R (2007) A comparison of statistical and dynamical downscaling for surface temperature in North America. J Geophys Res Atmos 112:D08101. doi:10.1029/2005JD006712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward JH (1963) Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. J Am Stat Assoc 58(301):236–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward MN, Folland CK, Maskell K, Colman AW, Rowell DP, Lane KB (1993) Experimental seasonal forecasting of tropical rainfall at the UK Meteorological Office. In: Shukla J (ed) Prediction of interannual climate variations, vol 16., NATO ASI seriesSpringer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 197–216

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wilks DS (2006) Statistical methods in the atmospheric sciences, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, p 627

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the Nigerian Meteorological Services, Oshodi Lagos for making the daily precipitation data used in this study available. The NCEP is also appreciated for the release of the reanalysis wind data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    M. O. Adeniyi

Authors
  1. M. O. Adeniyi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. O. Adeniyi.

Additional information

Responsible editor: C. Simmer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Adeniyi, M.O. Variability of daily precipitation over Nigeria. Meteorol Atmos Phys 126, 161–176 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-014-0340-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-014-0340-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation