ABSTRACT
This study examines the effect of Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature on rainfall in some selected coastal stations in Nigeria for a period of 10 years (1991 – 2000). Correlation between rainfall and Atlantic SST of the coastal stations and to determine the trend of Atlantic SST and rainfall of the coastal stations over the 10 years period (1991 – 2000) were determined. Sea Surface Temperature and monthly rainfall data were used for this study. The Atlantic SST covers 10 years spanning between 1991 – 2000 was made available by the European Centre for Medium Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) and the rainfall data for Ikeja and Calabar used for this study were collected from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Ondo (Okitipupa) State was made available By Climate Research Unit (CRU). Statistical analysis which include mean, standard deviation, trend analysis and correlation analysis were carried out. The rainfall and SST data were standardized to reduce problems inherent in the analysis of rainfall: the highly diverse means and variances and the randomness of the convective process reflected in individual station. The result showed that Atlantic SST has a little role to play in determining the rainfall of the coastal states. The trend of Atlantic SST was found to be increasing while the rainfall trend in Ikeja and Okitipupa was decreasing and that of Calabar was increasing. The correlation coefficient (R2) of Atlantic SST against Ikeja is 0.119 while that of Atlantic SST against Okitipupa is 0.018 and that of Atlantic SST against Calabar is 0.014. This result which shows that there is no significant correlation between the Atlantic SST and the coastal stations and that Atlantic SST has little or no effect on Rainfall in these coastal stations.
