Abstract
El Nino Southern-Oscillation (ENSO) refers to the cycle of coherent and sometimes very strong
variations in the sea surface temperature (SST), convective rainfall, surface pressure and
atmospheric circulation across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The research investigated the
relationship between ENSO and rainfall across the Sudano-Sahelian region of northern
Nigeria. Rainfall data for seven (7) locations were sourced from the Nigerian Meteorological
Agency (NIMET) covering the period from 1950 to 2019 and El-Nino Southern Oscillation
(ENSO) data which comprised of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) covering the same period.
The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) data was obtained from National Oceanographic
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Centre. A bivariate correlation
analysis between rainfall and SOI were computed for all the seven locations to determine the
relationship between ENSO and Sudano-Sahelian rainfall. The result shows a significant
relationship for Potiskum, Maiduguri and Katsina with correlation coefficient (r) values of
0.25, 0.26 and 0.27 respectively while Kano Gusau Nguru and Sokoto show no significant
relationship. It is therefore concluded that there is no strong relationship between rainfall and
ENSO in Sudano-Sahelian part of northern Nigeria. It is recommended that further research
could be carried out to investigate the influence of ENSO on other climate parameters such as
temperature, humidity and evapotranspiration in the study area.
Publisher
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Maiduguri
Reference11 articles.
1. Ati O. F., Iguisi, E. O., and Mohammed, S. O. (2010). Effects of El -Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on rainfall characteristics in Katsina, Nigeria. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 5(23): 3272-3278.
2. Ayoade J. O. (2004). Introduction to the climatology for the tropics, 2nd Edition Spectrum Books Ltd, Ibadan-Nigeria.
3. Camberlin P., Janicot, S. and Poccard, I. (2001). Seasonality and atmospheric dynamics of the teleconnections between African rainfall and tropical sea-surface temperature: Atlantic versus ENSO. International Journal of Climatology. 21: 973– 1005.
4. Chang P. (2002). The coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Presented in Workshop Conference on El -Nino and Tropical Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions. Abdusala International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Italy, June 3rd to 14; 2002. Gignac, G. E., and Szodorai, E. T. (2016). Effect size guidelines for individual differences researchers. Personality and Individual Differences. 102, 74–78.
5. https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/gcos_wgsp/Timeseries/SOI/.