Improving Weather Information Systems for Climate Change Assessment in Nigeria: The Role of AutomaticWeather Stations (AWSs)

Climate change is happening on a global scale, but the ecological impacts are often local and vary from place to place. The pertinent question is how can a country like Nigeria empirically assess, formulate mitigation measures or adapt to the enormous negative impact of climate change on livelihood of people living in rural and remote places in the country without systematic, reliable and consistent weather information. Detailed weather observations on local and regional levels are essential to a range of needs from forecasting to making decisions that affect energy security, public health and safety, transportation, agriculture and all of our economic interests. Reliable weather information allows farmers to maximize their productivity and governments to implement preventative disaster management and effective public health measures. The paper highlighted benefits of the use and implementation of Automatic weather stations (AWS) in gradual replacement of conventional weather stations in Nigeria.