A Comparative Analysis of CRIN and NASA Climate Data for Evaluating the Impact of Climate Change in Nigeria

Abstract

The study evaluates the reliability of Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) automatic weather station data in predicting the effect of climate change with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data. The study utilised a comprehensive analysis of three key weather parameters, namely Average temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall, to provide strong evidence for the overall reliability of CRIN's automatic weather station. The result shows that Average Temperature correlation coefficients varied widely, from 0.2625 to 0.9853. Years like 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 showed very strong correlations, suggesting improved reliability. The low correlation coefficients in years like 2015, 2016, 2021 and 2022 show a weak relationship between both systems. The variability in these years warrants further investigation and potential calibration checks. Relative Humidity correlation coefficients ranged from 0.796 to 0.955, indicating consistently strong agreement. CRIN data was slightly higher than NASA data, particularly in the latter parts of each year. This indicates a high reliability in capturing atmospheric moisture content patterns. Rainfall correlation coefficients ranged from 0.659 to 0.969, showing strong to very strong agreement. This reveals an excellent performance in capturing rainfall patterns, crucial for agricultural applications. It is notable that the CRIN station generally recorded slightly higher relative humidity values compared to NASA data, particularly in the latter part of each year. Despite the differences observed, the strong correlations indicate high reliability in relative humidity measurements from the CRIN automatic weather station.