Diurnal and Seasonal Variations of Sensible and Latent Heat Fluxes at an Agricultural Site in Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria
<p>Diurnal and seasonal variations of sensible heat (<em>H</em>) and latent heat (<em>LE</em>) fluxes observed at an agricultural site on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, southwest Nigeria have been reported in this paper. The deductions are made based on half-hourly flux data acquired from an open-path eddy covariance (OPEC) system measured continuously over a two-year observation period (2017-2018) at the study site. The study area is within tropical wet and dry climate of West Africa, thereby experiencing an alternating wet (that is, April &#8211; October) and dry (that is, December &#8211; February) seasons (monsoonal). Our results showed that peak hourly values of <em>H</em> and <em>LE</em> occurred at about 13:00 LT and 14:00 LT respectively, a lag of approximately one hour between them at the location. The diurnal range for <em>H</em> and <em>LE</em> during wet season was 75.3 W m<sup>-2</sup> and 177.0 W m<sup>-2</sup> respectively, while for dry season it was 182.0 W m<sup>-2</sup> and 89.9 W m<sup>-2</sup> respectively. The daily mean value of <em>H</em> for wet season was 19.7 &#177; 27.2 W m<sup>-2</sup> and it was 52.1 &#177; 63.5 W m<sup>-2 </sup>for <em>LE</em>. For dry season, daily mean values for <em>H</em> and <em>LE</em> were 44.0 &#177; 66.4 W m<sup>-2</sup> and 26.6 &#177; 33.7 W m<sup>-2</sup> respectively. A transition of seasons from wet (Bowen ratio, <em>Bo</em> < 1) to dry (<em>Bo</em> > 1) was observed in November and reversal in March.</p><p>&#160;</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Diurnal and Seasonal Variations, Sensible and Latent Heat Fluxes, Tropical Wet and Dry Climate</p>