The Nigerian Environmental Climatic Observing Program (NECOP): The dearth of quality research data generated from Nigerian terrain for research purposes prompted the establishment of NECOP. NECOP project was established in 2007 after a series of meetings with the committee on Science and Technology in the National Assembly of Nigeria. In 2007, Centre for Basic Space Science in Nsukka collaborated with the Centre for Climatic Research, Newark, Delaware, U.S. in the area of weather and climate and subsequently the project took off with manpower training in the U.S, and thereafter, the deployment of an Automatic Weather Monitoring Stations to characterize Nigeria on a country – wide scale. The project has drawn scientist and engineers from around Nigeria in a coordinated campaign to observe and monitor climatic and meteorological conditions within Nigeria.
When the Centre for Lower Atmospheric Research was created and later to full fledge Centre for Atmospheric Research, Anyigba was created in 2013, the project was totally transferred to the centre. The centre rename the project to ‘Atmospheric Monitoring Equipment Network (AMEN). Henceforth, the project name is AMEN.
OBJECTIVES OF AMEN
- To establish a network of stations carrying out, simultaneous basic measurements of meteorological & climatic variables, in real time, at five minutes update cycles.
- To provide real time data for scientist and researchers interested in atmospheric research and relevant fields in Nigeria, African and world at large.
- To have a fully computerized real-time online data achieve for dissemination so that the research results from Atmospheric groups will support decision and policy making under a wide range of scenarios of meteorological and climatological threats in Nigeria.
- To develop a real-time data acquisition and delivery system as an important tool for public education and awareness purposes during emergency management events.
- To extend AMEN project beyond the present number of stations, to cover all the states in Nigeria at first with the hope of expansion to neighboring African countries.
- To produce after a long period of data collection and analysis a comprehensive technical report of the analysis results meteorological and climatic conditions in Nigeria, so that these results will assist in designing future equipment that suits our terrain.
AMEN NETWORK FACILITIES
The AMEN team at the centre for Atmospheric Research, Kogi State University Campus, Anyigba, Nigeria seeks to deploy around Nigeria and Africa in a strategic fashion a new generation of an automatic weather stations that transfer a digitized data to a Centre for Atmospheric Research CAR server in real-time for lower atmospheric studies and also Solar-terrestrial interactions with emphasis in the lower atmospheric weather parameters, this is to address the issue of dearth of data in the region.
The project is categorise into phases, the first phase begun in 2007 and extend to 2009 with the following stations sparsely installed in different geographical zones in Nigeria, the first stations commenced at CBSS Observatory Nsukka, Enugu State South-Eastern Nigeria 6° 51ˈ 28.14ˈˈN, 7° 24ˈ 28.15ˈˈE and altitude 359m (NSK Station), University of Abuja, Gwagwalada Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria 7°50ˈ02.09ˈˈN, 6° 04ˈ 29.97ˈˈE and altitude 369m (ABJ Station), Akoka University of Lagos, South-Western Nigeria 6° 25ˈ 18.53ˈˈN, 3° 19ˈ 21.50ˈˈE and altitude 3.3m, Makurdi, University of Agriculture North-Central Nigeria 7°22ˈ24.79ˈˈN, 8° 48ˈ 42.77ˈˈE and altitude 140m (MKD Station), Plateau, University of Jos also North-Central Nigeria 10° 42ˈˈN, 8°57ˈ49.89ˈˈE and altitude 981m (JOS Station), Minna, Federal University of Technology North-Western Nigeria 9°34ˈ20.62ˈˈN, 6°25ˈ20.81ˈˈE and altitude 223m (MIN Station), Portharcourt, Rivers State University of Science and Technology South-South Nigeria 4°47ˈ05.41ˈˈN, 6°59ˈ30.62ˈˈE and altitude 20m (PHT Station), Akungba, Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Ondo South-Western Nigeria 6°59ˈ05.40ˈˈN, 5°35ˈ52.23ˈˈE and altitude 175m (AKB Station), Sokoto, Usman Dan Fodio University far North-Western Nigeria 13°07ˈ49.71ˈˈN, 5°18ˈ54.08ˈˈE and altitude 302m (SOK Station) and the last station in this first phase of NECOP Project is a station at the North-Eastern part of the country located at Yola, Federal University of Technology 9°17ˈ33.58ˈˈN, 12°23ˈ26.69ˈˈE and altitude 260m (YOL Station). A total of twelve Campbell Scientific Automatic Weather Stations that generates real time data at five minutes update cycle were deployed for the phase. At Nsukka we have two stations. This gives us the summary of the first phase of NECOP Projects Stations.
The second phase of the project began in 2010 and extends to 2013 with the following stations: Akure, Federal University of Technology South-Western Nigeria 6°57ˈ50.85ˈˈN, 4°36ˈ17.19ˈˈE and altitude 131m (AKR Station), Lapai, Ibrahim Badomasi Babangida University North-Western Nigeria 9°02ˈ51.63ˈˈN, 6°49ˈ47.02ˈˈE and altitude 242m (LAP Station), Ayingba, Kogi State University North-Central Nigeria 7°17ˈ55.90ˈˈN, 6°49ˈ47.02ˈˈE and altitude 186m (AYB Station), Ogun, Redeemer‟s University Lat 6°52ˈ26.79ˈˈN, Lon 3°32ˈ36.51ˈˈE and 88m (RED Station), Enugu, State University South-Eastern Nigeria Lat 6° 51ˈ 28.14ˈˈN, 7° 24ˈ 28.15ˈˈE and Altitude 359m (ENG Station), Ogbomoso, Ladoke Akintola University South-Western Nigeria 6°46ˈ14.91ˈˈN, 3°25ˈ44.60ˈˈE and altitude 78m (OGM Station), and the most recent station in this second phase is Bauchi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University which is installed in April 2013 located at North-Eastern Nigeria 10°02ˈ09.91ˈˈN, 9°41ˈ38.27ˈˈE and altitude 575 (BAU Station). In total we have eighteen (18) stations.
The third phase is expected to cover all the remaining states in Nigeria. With Scientifically significant real-time data arriving at central server from Nineteen identical Automatic Weather stations which is (Rugged, robust and precision excellent), CAR also seeks to conduct socially beneficial weather forecasting. CAR also has a mandate to establish an important new research tool for the Atmospheric research community
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