Environment and Ecology Research 9(4): 173-185, 2021 http://www.hrpub.org
DOI: 10.13189/eer.2021.090405
Regional Trend in Ambient Air Quality Footprints in
Calabar Urban, Nigeria
Josiah Nwabueze Obiefuna
1,*
, Gertrude Nnanjar Njar
2
, Francis Ebuta Bisong
1
1
Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Calabar, P.M.B. 1115,
Calabar, Nigeria
2
Department of Surveying & Geoinformatics, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Calabar, P.M.B. 1115, Calabar, Nigeria
Received June 7, 2021; Revised July 13, 2021; Accepted August 22, 2021
Cite This Paper in the following Citation Styles
(a): [1] Josiah Nwabueze Obiefuna, Gertrude Nnanjar Njar, Francis Ebuta Bisong , "Regional Trend in Ambient Air
Quality Footprints in Calabar Urban, Nigeria," Environment and Ecology Research, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 173 - 185, 2021.
DOI: 10.13189/eer.2021.090405.
(b): Josiah Nwabueze Obiefuna, Gertrude Nnanjar Njar, Francis Ebuta Bisong (2021). Regional Trend in Ambient Air
Quality Footprints in Calabar Urban, Nigeria. Environment and Ecology Research, 9(4), 173 - 185. DOI:
10.13189/eer.2021.090405.
Copyright©2021 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License
Abstract Poor air quality is widely considered as one of
the major environmental hazards confronting several urban
centres worldwide. This study examined regional trend in
ambient air quality footprints in Calabar Metropolis. Data
on emission level of CO, NO
2
, SO
2
, H
2
S, and SPM
2.5
were
collected using Crowcon Gasman, while point coordinates
were collected using Garmin GPSMap 60CSx device.
Interpolation algorithm in Geographic Information
Systems infrastructure was used to generate the regional
trend maps for the metropolis. Parametric analytical
techniques such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were
employed to test the hypotheses, while descriptive statistics
including tables, maps and standard deviation were also
used to present the data based on the objectives of the study.
The results of the trend surface analysis for the five (5)
measured parameters show that CO and SPM
2.5
were not
significant at P˃0.05 with F-ratio of 0.99 and 2.45
respectively. Thus, the null hypothesis which states that
there is no significant change in the regional trend in air
quality across Calabar Metropolis was therefore accepted.
Analysis for NO
2
, SO
2
and H
2
S, were significant at P < 0.05
with F-ratio of 3.47, 3.35 and 7.79 respectively, causing the
null hypothesis to be rejected. It was therefore
recommended that mitigatory measures should be
employed for the purpose of ensuring a sustainable, clean
and green urban environment.
Keywords Regional Trend, Environmental Hazards,
Disasters, Air Quality, Pollution
1. Introduction
Air quality is the condition of air that defines its content
level of one or more pollutants such as carbon dioxide
(CO
2
), nitrogen dioxide (NO
2
), sulphur dioxide (SO
2
),
hydrogen sulphide (H
2
S) and suspended particulate matter
of 2.5mm or higher in diameter, etc. The term ‘air quality
footprints’ as used in this research denotes measurement,
mathematical and graphical expression or depiction in
area or land use based units, a set of green house gasses,
pollutants or emissions accumulated within the life cycle
of dominant economic activities across various land uses.
However, when land uses are not properly planned and
adhered to, air quality would be affected. This condition
would arise when large and numerous sources of emission
such as industrial, commercial and transportation are
located in close proximity to the residential areas or other
air pollution-sensitive facilities such as schools. As a
result of this, persons, communities and businesses
affected would ultimately suffer negatively either in the
form of higher costs of public health, higher mortality rate
or higher pollution control cost.
The determination of air quality is often achieved by
examining air pollutants emitted from anthropogenic
activities as well as from nature. In order to improve air