Seasonal Variation of Tropospheric Air Pollutants and Their Association with Meteorological Parameters over Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52562/injoes.2025.1379Keywords:
Air pollutant, atmospheric parameter, seasonal distribution, cluster analysis, air qualityAbstract
Air pollution is a major environmental issue that is of significant concern globally, due to its detrimental health impacts. The impacts of air pollution depend on several factors. For effective air quality management, the effect of meteorological factors on air pollutants is crucial. This study, therefore, investigates this influence across Nigeria using data on air pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), methane (CH4), ozone (O3), and formaldehyde (HCHO), and meteorological variables: maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), precipitation (PRCP), wind speed, and cloud cover from Sentinel-5P TROPOMI and Climatic Research Unit. The study covered November 2018 to December 2023 (2018–2023). Hierarchical cluster and Pearson correlation analyses were applied. Seasonally, both tropospheric air pollutants and climatic parameters varied from one month to another. Pollutants showed similar seasonal patterns except O3; however, their concentrations differed from month to month. Our findings show relationships between climatic parameters and pollutants, but the significance and direction varied with the pollutant and the parameter. This suggests that the influence of climatic parameters on pollutants depends on both the parameter and the pollutant considered. This study provides scientific insight for effective air quality management.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Moses Audu, Agada Ojochenemi, Franscisca Okeke, Shelle Benedict, Atuha Tersue
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