Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24

Abstract Using the facilities at Heliophysics Science Division of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA, we attempted to investigate the impact of solar magnetic activities on the climate of Wet Zone West Africa. The solar activity data namely, Sunspot Number (SSN) was obtained from t...

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Autores principales:	Esther A. Hanson, Francisca N. Okeke
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a94626bd50dc4e728e9d64e198fa2b7d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a94626bd50dc4e728e9d64e198fa2b7d2021-12-02T17:51:05ZImpacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–2410.1038/s41598-021-90999-62045-2322https://doaj.org/article/a94626bd50dc4e728e9d64e198fa2b7d2021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90999-6https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Using the facilities at Heliophysics Science Division of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA, we attempted to investigate the impact of solar magnetic activities on the climate of Wet Zone West Africa. The solar activity data namely, Sunspot Number (SSN) was obtained from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels; and Geomagnetic aa-index was obtained from World Data Center, Kyoto, Japan. Surface Air Temperature (SAT) and Rainfall data [for Port Harcourt in Nigeria and Abidjan in Cote D’Ivoire] were obtained from the HadCRUT-4 project of Climate Research Unit of University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Firstly, we carried out Time Series Analysis of SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index spanning from 1950 to 2016. Secondly, we performed Regression Analysis on both solar activity data and climate variables to estimate the impact of solar magnetic activity on the Wet Zone West African climate. The Time Series Analysis showed that SSN variation was in-phase with Geomagnetic aa-index in all the solar cycles studied. Thus, Geomagnetic aa-index can be used as a proxy for studying solar magnetic activities. Performance of Regression Analysis showed that SSN regressed on SAT and Rainfall amounted to an average of 0.49 and 0.02% respectively throughout Solar Cycles 22–24. Furthermore, a regression of Geomagnetic aa-index on SAT and Rainfall yielded an average of 0.145 and 0.125% respectively. Our models showed that the variability of SAT and Rainfall in Wet Zone West Africa during Solar Cycles 22–24 are far less than 1%. Hence, the influence of SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index on SAT and Rainfall is less than 1%; and could cause ‘very small’ effect. These weak impacts are proofs that the variability of SAT and Rainfall were most probably not effected by SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index. Consequently, the variability of SAT and Rainfall in Wet Zone West Africa could not be attributed to SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index. We therefore, attempt to conclude that climate variability in Wet Zone West Africa is most probably not driven by solar magnetic activity, but could be attributed to anthropogenic activities.Esther A. HansonFrancisca N. OkekeNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Esther A. Hanson Francisca N. Okeke Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24
description	Abstract Using the facilities at Heliophysics Science Division of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA, we attempted to investigate the impact of solar magnetic activities on the climate of Wet Zone West Africa. The solar activity data namely, Sunspot Number (SSN) was obtained from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels; and Geomagnetic aa-index was obtained from World Data Center, Kyoto, Japan. Surface Air Temperature (SAT) and Rainfall data [for Port Harcourt in Nigeria and Abidjan in Cote D’Ivoire] were obtained from the HadCRUT-4 project of Climate Research Unit of University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Firstly, we carried out Time Series Analysis of SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index spanning from 1950 to 2016. Secondly, we performed Regression Analysis on both solar activity data and climate variables to estimate the impact of solar magnetic activity on the Wet Zone West African climate. The Time Series Analysis showed that SSN variation was in-phase with Geomagnetic aa-index in all the solar cycles studied. Thus, Geomagnetic aa-index can be used as a proxy for studying solar magnetic activities. Performance of Regression Analysis showed that SSN regressed on SAT and Rainfall amounted to an average of 0.49 and 0.02% respectively throughout Solar Cycles 22–24. Furthermore, a regression of Geomagnetic aa-index on SAT and Rainfall yielded an average of 0.145 and 0.125% respectively. Our models showed that the variability of SAT and Rainfall in Wet Zone West Africa during Solar Cycles 22–24 are far less than 1%. Hence, the influence of SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index on SAT and Rainfall is less than 1%; and could cause ‘very small’ effect. These weak impacts are proofs that the variability of SAT and Rainfall were most probably not effected by SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index. Consequently, the variability of SAT and Rainfall in Wet Zone West Africa could not be attributed to SSN and Geomagnetic aa-index. We therefore, attempt to conclude that climate variability in Wet Zone West Africa is most probably not driven by solar magnetic activity, but could be attributed to anthropogenic activities.
format	article
author	Esther A. Hanson Francisca N. Okeke
author_facet	Esther A. Hanson Francisca N. Okeke
author_sort	Esther A. Hanson
title	Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24
title_short	Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24
title_full	Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24
title_fullStr	Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24
title_full_unstemmed	Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24
title_sort	impacts of sunspot number and geomagnetic aa-index on climate of wet zone west africa during solar cycles 22–24
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a94626bd50dc4e728e9d64e198fa2b7d
work_keys_str_mv	AT estherahanson impactsofsunspotnumberandgeomagneticaaindexonclimateofwetzonewestafricaduringsolarcycles2224 AT franciscanokeke impactsofsunspotnumberandgeomagneticaaindexonclimateofwetzonewestafricaduringsolarcycles2224
_version_	1718379304429027328

Impacts of sunspot number and Geomagnetic aa-index on climate of Wet Zone West Africa during solar cycles 22–24

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