Estimation of Surface Water Vapour Density and its Variation with other Meteorological Parameters over Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

In this paper, the monthly variation of Surface Water Vapour Density (SWVD) with meteorological parameters of monthly average daily mean temperature, relative humidity, surface pressure, cloud cover and sunshine hours during the period of thirty-eight (38) years (1979 - 2016) for Akure (Latitude 7.280N, Longitude 5.300E, 375m above sea level) were investigated. The daily variation of surface water vapour density for the two distinct seasons considering two typical months in each during the period of year 2014 was examined. The results showed fluctuation in the amount of surface water vapour density in each day of the month for the period under investigation. The monthly average daily values indicated that the surface water vapour densities are greater during the rainy season than in the dry season. It was observed that the maximum average value of surface water vapour density of 20.1019 gm-3 occurred in the month of September during the rainy season and minimum value of 15.5110 gm-3 in the month of January during the dry season. The highest value of surface water vapour density was observed on the 4th of June, 2014 with 26.3320 gm-3 and the lowest on the 31st day of December, 2014 with 6.0276 gm-3. The comparison assessment of the developed two variable SWVD based models was carried out using statistical indices of coefficient of determination (R2), Mean Bias Error (MBE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Percentage Error (MPE), Nash – Sutcliffe Equation (NSE) and Index of Agreement (IA). The developed multivariate correlation regression model that relates pressure and precipitable water vapour with R2 = 100%, MBE = -0.0177, RMSE = 0.0179, MPE = 0.1034, NSE = 99.9956% and IA = 99.9989% was found more suitable for surface water vapour density estimation with good fitting and therefore can be used for estimating surface water vapour density in Akure.