The atmospheric effect of greenhouse gas emissions is posing an increasing threat to the stability of the global climate. Like many developing nations, the western Africa nation of Nigeria faces risks from climate change, with potential effects on the environment upon which Nigerians rely and on broader social constructs, including the national economy. Nigeria's diverse topography, which stretches from dry northern regions of the sub-Sahara to lush southern rainforests along the Gulf of Guinea, accentuates susceptibility to a variety of climate-related hazards, including warming, irregular rainfall patterns, and extreme weather occurrences. Driven by the influence of tropical climates on the global climate system and the importance of climate variability and change specifically within Nigeria, this study of the Nigerian hydroclimate explicitly characterizes historical variability and change through analysis of in-situ daily climate data. Daily maximum and minimum air temperature and total precipitation data from 1982 through 2011 were obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Service for 20 locations across the country. Given the limited temporal extent of the data, two popular satellite-derived precipitation products were tested for usability as supplements to the in-situ data. Each of the satellite-derived products depicts rainfall with an unrealistically high frequency and with a temporal trend that is opposite reality. Only in-situ data were analyzed further, beginning with a methodology to define the climatological wet and dry seasons across the country. The critical wet season across Nigeria was found to last between 120 days (north) and 200 days (south), beginning April/May and ending September/October, with wetness migrating from nearer the southern coastline northward through the country during the Northern Hemisphere summer, before retreating south again. As with seasonality, the spatial distribution of precipitation amount and frequency relates to distance northward from the southern coast. Wet season precipitation approaches 2500 mm from an average of more than 115 wet days along the coast, to only about 350 mm and 35 days across far northern Nigeria. Conversely, the dry season produces 300 mm from 30 wet days across the south, and only 80 mm from less than 10 days across the north. The wet season in Nigeria accounts for greater than 90% of annual precipitation and number of wet days. Nigeria experienced a warming and wetting of the climate during the 30-year study period, during both the wet and dry seasons. However, a change in the equitable distribution of precipitation across wet days (i.e., daily intensity) is not greatly evident, as it is for many other regions of the world. Thus, the likely benefit of greater precipitation does not appear to be mitigated by the risks associated with an increase in the frequency of high-intensity rainfall events. But tempering the positive precipitation signal is the likely detrimental effect of warming. Inter-annual variability in the wetness of the critical wet season is evident in the synoptic atmospheric expression of the inter-tropical convergence zone/discontinuity, but also in sea surface temperatures within the Gulf of Guinea. Historically, sea surface temperatures are considerably higher during the wettest wet season years compared to the driest years, possibly indicating a short-distance teleconnection that may offer seasonal predictability. / Master of Science / Nigeria is experiencing the consequences of global climate change caused by gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Nigeria is endowed with a diverse terrain, with green rainy parts in the south and arid regions in the north. In Nigeria, the economy and the environment are both being impacted by climate change. Decades of climatic data from various regions of the nation were examined in this research. We discovered that Nigeria is generally becoming wetter and warmer. Most of the yearly precipitation falls during the rainy season, which runs from April to October. There hasn't been much of an increase in extremely heavy rain, though, because the intensity of the rainfall hasn't increased significantly. However, higher temperatures can lead to issues. The amount of rain that falls in Nigeria is also influenced by sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Guinea. This study sheds light on how Nigeria's weather is changing due to climate change, which may have negative effects on both people and the environment.

Many scholars highlight the essence of a participatory governance approach to climate change adaptation and the positive impact of allowing multiple actors participation in the process of decision making as a determinant for successful adaptation to climate change. However, political culture in some societies does not support participation, and people are neither interested nor even aware of political actions. There are very few studies carried out that examine cultural, especially political cultural, influences over governing climate change adaptation. In response to this academic gap, this research aims to investigate how political culture influences a governance approach to climate change adaptation. Using an empirical case study of the process of formulating national climate change adaptation policies in South Korea, this study examines the way decisions are made about climate change policies under ‘dominant bureaucratic’, ‘authoritarian’ and ‘weak participant’ political cultures and investigates how such political cultures will hamper or encourage a governance approach to effective climate change adaptation. This study therefore advances knowledge about how political culture influences climate change adaptation. It provides a basis for comparative analyses of other political cultures in different regions and will enable scholars to understand the challenges that particular forms of governance hold for promoting climate change adaptation.

Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

This study investigates the relationship between perceptions of servant leadership and the ethical climate in an agricultural business. Using the Executive Servant Leadership Scale (ESLS) and the Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ), the data was collected; full-time employees of an agricultural business, rating the servant leadership style of their managers in addition to the ethical work climate of their organisation. The survey was conducted on a convenience sample (N=151) representing a response rate of 63.3% from a sample of 240 employees. This study found a statistically significant correlation between the manager’s leadership style of servant leadership and the ethical work climate of the organisation. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This study investigates the relationship between perceptions of servant leadership and the ethical climate in an agricultural business. Using the Executive Servant Leadership Scale (ESLS) and the Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ), the data was collected; full-time employees of an agricultural business, rating the servant leadership style of their managers in addition to the ethical work climate of their organisation. The survey was conducted on a convenience sample (N=151) representing a response rate of 63.3% from a sample of 240 employees. This study found a statistically significant correlation between the manager’s leadership style of servant leadership and the ethical work climate of the organisation. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

<p> In order to make informed decisions in response to future climate change, researchers, policy-makers, and the public need climate projections at the scale of few kilometers, rather than the scales provided by Global Climate Models. The North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) is such a recent effort that addresses this necessity. As the climate models contain various levels of uncertainty, it is essential to evaluate the performance of such models and their representativeness of regional climate characteristics. When assessing climate change impacts, precipitation is a crucial variable, due to its direct influence on many aspects of our natural-human ecosystems such as freshwater resources, agriculture and energy production, and health and infrastructure. The current study performs an evaluation analysis of precipitation simulations produced by a set of dynamically downscaled climate models provided by the NARCCAP program. The Assessment analysis is implemented for a period that covers 20 to 30 years (1970-1999), depending on joint availability of both the observational and the NARCCAP datasets. In addition to direct comparison versus observations, the hindcast NARCCAP simulations are used within a hydrologic modeling analysis for a regional ecosystem in coastal Louisiana (Chenier Plain). The study concludes the NARCCAP simulations have systematic biases in representing average precipitation amounts, but are successful at capturing some of the characteristics on spatial and temporal variability. The study also reveals the effect of precipitation on salinity concentrations in the Chenier Plain as a result of using different precipitation forcing fields. In the future, special efforts should be made to reduce biases in the NARCCAP simulations, which can then lead to a better presentation of regional climate scenarios for use by decision makers and resource managers.</p>

It is argued in this thesis that the climate signal shows more strongly in the runoff regime of the Gambia River Basin (GRB) than the signal from deforestation. Partial and multiple regression was used to partition the effects on runoff of rainfall characteristics and deforestation over the GRB since the turn of this century. The expected shorter, higher more rapidly responding wet season flood peaks which result from deforestation have not occurred in the GRB. Rather, peak floods have fluctuated since the beginning of the century, but showing a clear declining trend similar to the rainfall regime. The large size (z 7550 km') of the sub-catchments of the GRB inhibit synchronisation of the rapid runoff that is associated with deforestation. Furthermore, deforestation, as it occurs in the GRB, takes place piece-meal as small plots of land are cleared. The nature of clearance of vegetation is important; the vegetation cleared is either replaced with another type of vegetation, for example, groundnuts or millet, or is soon allowed to recover after a cropping phase. Surface and sub-surface hydrological processes within the GRB are therefore not subjected to the severe form of alteration that characterise massive and total clearance of vegetation schemes in urban development. However, deforestation has significantly affected low flowsthere are now longer periods of lower dry season flows, and these are ascribed to the diminishing recharge of ground water. By augmenting overland flow and reducing interception and infiltration, deforestation causes a reduction in ground water recharge, which is an important component of dry season flows. Both climate change and deforestation have worked in parallel to cause a fluctuating but declining flow regime of the Gambia River. This, in turn, affects both the agricultural potential and productivity of the GRB.

No description available.

No description available.

<p> This research investigates the impacts of thermal insulation on the thermal regime of soils below heated buildings in seasonally and perennially frozen soils. The research provides practical answers (A) for designing frost-protected shallow foundations in unfrozen soils of the discontinuous permafrost zone in Alaska and (B) shows that applying seasonal thermal insulation can reduce the risk of permafrost thawing under buildings with open crawl spaces, even in warming climatic conditions. </p><p> At seasonal frost sites, this research extends frost-protected shallow foundation applications by providing design suggestions that account for colder Interior Alaska&rsquo;s air freezing indices down to 4,400 &deg;C&dot;d (8,000 &deg;F&dot;d). This research includes field studies at six Fairbanks sites, mathematical analyses, and finite element modeling. An appendix includes frost-protected shallow foundation design recommendations. Pivotal findings include the discovery of more pronounced impacts from horizontal frost heaving forces than are likely in warmer climates. </p><p> At permafrost sites, this research investigates the application of manufactured thermal insulation to buildings with open crawl spaces as a method to preserve soils in the frozen state. This research reports the findings from using insulation to reduce permafrost temperature, and increase the bearing capacity of permafrost soils. Findings include the differing thermal results of applying insulation on the ground surface in an open crawl space either permanently (i.e., left in place), or seasonally (i.e., applied in warm months and removed in cold months). Research includes fieldwork in Fairbanks, and finite element analyses for Fairbanks, Kotzebue, and Barrow. Pivotal findings show that seasonal thermal insulation effectively cools the permafrost. By contrast, Fairbanks, Kotzebue, and Barrow investigations show that permanently applied thermal insulation decreases the active layer, while also increasing (not decreasing) the permafrost temperature. </p><p> Using seasonal thermal insulation, in a controlled manner, satisfactorily alters the thermal regime of soils below heated buildings and provides additional foundation alternatives for arctic buildings.</p>