Analysis of some meteorological data for some selected Cities in the Eastern and Southern zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The monthly mean daily global solar radiation, sunshine duration hours, maximum temperature, Cloudiness index and relative humidity data for some selected cities in the Eastern and Southern zone of Nigeria covering a period of seventeen years (1990 - 2007) were used to generate several linear and multilinear regression equations. The values of the solar radiation estimated by the equations and the measured solar radiation were tested using the mean bias error (MBE), root mean square error (RMSE)
and mean percentage error (MPE) statistical techniques. The values of the correlation coefficient (R) and
coefficient of correlation (R2) were also determined for each equation. The equations with the highest values of R, R2 and least values of MBE, RMSE and MPE are suitable for predicting global solar radiation in the Eastern and Southern part of Nigeria. The developed equations can be used for estimating solar radiation in other locations with similar geographical information.