Diurnal, Seasonal and Annual Variation of Microwave Radio Refractivity Gradient over Akure, South West Nigeria

Adekunle Titus Adediji

Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Joseph Babatunde Dada *

Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria and Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Elizade University, P.M.B 002, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Moses Oludare Ajewole

Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria and Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Elizade University, P.M.B 002, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

In this study, four years in-situ measurements of atmospheric parameters (pressure, temperature and relative humidity) were carried out. The measurement was by placing an automatic weather station at five different heights: ground surface, 50, 100, 150 and 200 m respectively on a 220 m Nigeria Television Authority TV tower in Akure, South Western Nigeria. The four years Data collected (January 2007 to December 2009 and January to December 2011) were used to compute radio refractivity and its gradient. The local effect of a location/ region cannot but looked into when designing effective radio link, hence the diurnal, seasonal and annual variations of the radio refractivity gradient were studied. Results showed that refractivity gradient steadily increases inthe hour of 8:30 and 9:30 to 18:00 during dry season throughout the years investigated, and decreases two hours in the rainy season than the dry season. The record shows that at 50 m altitude, the maximum and minimum values are 158 N-unit/km around 14:30 and - 286 N-unit/km around 13:30 to 14:00 hrs, LT during the dry and rainy season respectively. Seasonally, refractivity gradient is steeper with greater variability in the dry season months than in the wet season months.

Keywords: Microwave, radio, refractivity, refractivity gradient, temperature, relative humidity.


How to Cite

Adediji, Adekunle Titus, Joseph Babatunde Dada, and Moses Oludare Ajewole. 2019. “Diurnal, Seasonal and Annual Variation of Microwave Radio Refractivity Gradient over Akure, South West Nigeria”. Physical Science International Journal 23 (4):1-11. https://doi.org/10.9734/psij/2019/v23i430161.