Some aspects of physiologic climatology in Nigeria

Abstract

This study discusses the focus of researches in climate science in Nigeria with the view of identifying important gaps in knowledge in the publications in the field. The study used both expository review and geostatistics to present its results. The general overview of the field of climatology in Nigeria showed that Nigerian rainfall has been well studied while information on most other climate elements and issues is less available. This study emphasised the need for more researches on other aspects of climatology, especially physiologic climatology. Results from this study showed that physiologic or thermal stress, in terms of effective temperature index (ETI), relative strain index (RSI) and temperature-humidity index (THI) in Nigeria has been on the increase, especially since 1981–1990, and is forecasted to increase until (or beyond) 2030 (ETI°C = –0.007x2 + 0.234x + 23.63; RSI ratio = 0.001x2 – 0.0003x + 0.17; THI°C = –0.02x2 + 0.37x + 23.89; x= nth decade from 1951–1960). The study concluded that increase in thermal stress in Nigeria, especially as the rate of urbanisation increases justifies more diversified investigations to physiologic climates.