Estimations of photosynthetically active radiation over different climatic zones in Nigeria

  • Authors

    • Samuel Nwokolo University of Calabar
    • Julie Ogbulezie University of Calabar
    • Kabele Togo University of Ibadan
    • Sylvia John-Jaja Babcock university
    2018-04-04
    https://doi.org/10.14419/e.v1i1.9991
  • Atmospheric Parameters, Clearness Index, Climatic Zones, Modeling and Photosynthetically active Radiation.
  • This paper was designed to estimate and model the ratio of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) to global solar radiation (SR) over different climatic zones in Nigeria in order to assess the feasibility of PAR/SR availability and utilization in agriculture, forestry and oceanography. The measured global solar radiation data was obtained from the Archives of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Oshodi, Lagos, over a period of thirteen years (2000-2012). Proven empirical models were used as a baseline for theoretical formulations and estimations of the ratio between PAR to SR over different climatic zones in Nigeria. From the estimated values, the mean ratio of PAR/SR in rainy season recorded 0.5067, 0.4863, 0.4906, 0.4740, 0.4574 and 0.4528 while the mean ratio of PAR/SR in dry season registered 0.4843, 0.4875, 0.4641, 0.4504, 0.4480 and 0.4482 with annual ratio of 0.4974, 0.4868, 0.4811, 0.4651, 0.4535 and 0.4509 for Port Harcourt, Enugu, Abeokuta, Ilorin, Bauchi and Sokoto respectively. The annual ratio of PAR/SR revealed that there is consistent increase in the ratios from North-West (Sokoto) to South-South (Port Harcourt). These variations were mainly due to apparent increase in cloudiness, aerosol particles and associated atmospheric moisture from the South-South to North-West with the apparent movement of the Hadley cell circulation system along the equatorial line form North-West to South-south. The models developed were found to estimate PAR/SR accurately from commonly available SR data and empirical model when tested with statistical indicators and compared with the results of researchers within and beyond tropical locations in Nigeria.

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    Nwokolo, S., Ogbulezie, J., Togo, K., & John-Jaja, S. (2018). Estimations of photosynthetically active radiation over different climatic zones in Nigeria. SPC Journal of Energy, 1(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.14419/e.v1i1.9991