Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the extent vegetation has responded to decadal variations in temperature and rainfall over Northern Nigeria. The study covers four decades viz. the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s. Meteorological data from 11 stations covering 34 years (1971 to 2004) and satellite imageries of four dates, 1972, 1980, 1990 and 2000 taken during the wet season were analyzed in this work. Results obtained showed a compelling evidence that the vegetation of Northern Nigeria is sensitive to the decadal variations recorded in the region’s temperature and rainfall during the period studied. The results indicated that the average temperature has been rising by the decade with 0.31°C inthe 1980s and 0.09°C in the 1990s and 2000s while rainfall dropped in the 1980s by 103 mm, increased massively in the 1990s by 163 mm and decreased slightly by 2.42 mm in the 2000s. The highest maximum positive NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) values of + 0.64 was recorded in 2000 while the lowest of + 0.21 occurred in 1990 and followed closely by + 0.27 of 1980.These results provide evidence as to the sensitivity of vegetation to decadal variations in temperature and rainfall over Northern Nigeria.

Key words: Variations, FCC (false colour composite), NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index).