Seasonal variation of surface energy balance over Mubi northeastern Nigeria during 2000-2020

Abstract

Several studies have been undertaken on surface energy balance (SEB) at various places in the world, but none have been undertaken for Mubi, Northeastern Nigeria. In the effort of consideration, this study aims to evaluate the seasonal variation of SEB in Mubi, with emphasis on the observational data from 2000 to 2020. Evaluation of seasonal variations was executed using time series analysis to find out the impact of precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil, and air temperature changes on SEB components. It was found that the SEB components variations of sensible heat (H) had a maximum value of 1035.13 Wm−2 in the dry season, in the month of December, while a minimum value of -104.13 Wm−2 during the rainy season, in the month of July; latent heat (LH), had a peak value of 5243.46 Wm-2 in the dry season in the month of April, while in the rainy season, the lower value was found to be 2460.6 Wm-2, in the month of August; soil heat (G) had minimum and maximum values of 886.43 Wm-2 in March and 275.25 Wm-2 in August respectively; and net radiative (Rn) varies roughly between the highest month in March with 2809.35 Wm−2 (rainy season months) and lowest month in August with 6879.69 Wm−2 (dry season months). It was also found that precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil, and air temperature follow the same trend with some SEB results, affirming their dependency on each other. Therefore, it is expected that this study will help to understand the amount of energy received or emitted in the Mubi region. Along with the main work, some recommendations were made by researchers on some applications of SEB to the community.