EXAMINATION OF THE TREND OF RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE IN WARRI, DELTA STATE. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
CHAPTER 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The evidence of Rainfall and Temperature trend is recognized by today’s world as one of the important environmental problems that affect humanity.It refers to a serious and continuous change in weather pattern, largely attributed to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapor by humans, mainly produced from thetransport, agriculture, manufacturing and energy sectors of the economy.
Recent changes in climate have led to warmer temperatures, heavy rainfall, drought, and floods etc. (AkinsanolaandOgunjobi, 2014).Therefore, the knowledge of climate variability over the periodof instrumental records and beyond on differenttemporal and spatial scale is important tounderstand the nature of different climate systems andtheir impact on the environment and society (Oguntundeet al. 2012).
Climate variability is the variations of the normalstate and other statistics of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weatherevents. Variability may result from natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability)or from anthropogenic external forces (external variability) (IPCC 2001, 2005). The global climate has changed rapidly with theglobal mean temperature increasing by 0.7oC within thelast century (IPCC 2007). However, the rates of changeare significantly different among regions (IPCC 2007).This is primarily due to the varied types of land surfaces with different surface albedo, evapotranspiration andcarbon cycle affecting the climate in different ways.
1.1 BACKGROUND TO STUDY
The Niger Delta is a very sensitive area housing several ecosystems or local biomes. This has made it particularly vulnerable to little changes in environmental conditions, weather variability inclusive. Apart from the generalized effects of climate variability, there are certain impacts that are either unique to or more pronounced in the region. Some of these are discussed below.
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