Low-Cost Weather Station Assessment of Urban Heat Island Compared with ERA5 Reanalysis Data

Abubakar Musa; Taiwo  Adewumi; Sani Muhammad; Oladiran Johnson Abimbola

doi:10.62050/ljsir2025.v3n2.666

Low-Cost Weather Station Assessment of Urban Heat Island Compared with ERA5 Reanalysis Data

Authors

Abubakar Musa
abumusa564@gmail.com

Department of Physics, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State; Isa Mustapha Agwai 1 Polytechnic, Lafia, Nasarawa State
Taiwo Adewumi
Department of Physics, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State
Sani Muhammad
Department of Physics, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State
Oladiran Johnson Abimbola
Department of Physics, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State

Keywords:

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Abstract

Rapidly urbanizing regions usually experience urban heat islands with the attendant environmental and public health challenges. This study has used a low-cost LILYGO T-SIM7000G board with BME280 as a sensor to assess the UHI Index and compare such results with those obtained from the Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis data. The result shows a bias of about 1.36 in the UHI Index against the ERA5-Land data; this bias can be mitigated by applying a corrective offset. It was also observed that the ambient temperature in Lafia city has been consistently increasing between the years 1980 and 2024 by about 0.017 ^oC per year, with the highest increase recorded in the year 2024. The highest diurnal value of the UHI Index was observed around 1500 hours, while the lowest nighttime value was observed at around 0600 hours; this finding agrees with results as observed in other studies. This study has shown the importance of adopting low-cost components in monitoring environmental variables such as the UHI Index in low-income areas of the world, where funding may pose problems.

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Published

2025-10-14

How to Cite

Low-Cost Weather Station Assessment of Urban Heat Island Compared with ERA5 Reanalysis Data. (2025). Lafia Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 3(2), 148-158. https://doi.org/10.62050/ljsir2025.v3n2.666