RAINFALL VARIABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON COMMUNICATION LINK IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Due to the fact that rainfall may hamper signal availability, rainfall variability and its resultant effect on environment and communication have become of global concern. In this study, we investigate the trend and variability of rainfall in southwestern Nigeria and examine its effect on radio communication. Our results reveal a steady increasing in rainfall and slightly unstable in volume variation in southwestern Nigeria. The study also reveals that the tendency of higher attenuation in years was caused by the increasing trend but showing variability with frequency. With the rising trend in view, there is therefore the likelihood that radio communication infrastructures will experience increasing outage and more signal loss in the future years. This outcome should serve as useful tools in optimizing satellite link budget and better utilization of available bandwidth.