ABSTRACT Soil moisture (SM) estimation from cosmic ray neutron sensors (CRNS) requires pre-processing of raw neutron counts particularly correcting for atmospheric density, known as the barometric effect. The barometric coefficient (β) varies by location, altitude, atmospheric conditions, and sensor type, necessitating station-specific values for precise correction. This study analyzes 30 CRNS and 46 neutron monitors (NM) globally to estimate β through regression and assess its impact on CRNS-estimated SM. Our results show spatio-temporal variation in the barometric effect, with β ranging from 0.66 to 0.82 %hPa for NM and 0.63 to 0.80 %hPa for CRNS. The study’s coefficients exhibit higher variability than previously published analytical models. Incorrect β can reduce CRNS-based SM accuracy by ±0.02m³/m³. Incisively, our study emphasizes the need for atmospheric correction in CRNS measurements, highlights the importance and provides a new method for a site- and sensor-specific β for accurate SM.

Agro-climatic zones are geographical areas delineated based on climate homogeneity and impact on agriculture. Ghana's agro-climatic zones have been in use since the 1960s, with no consideration given to current climate change and variability. The continued use of this age-old classified zones suggest Ghana's climate remains stable despite previous research findings to the contrary. In this study, we reconstructed a more appropriate and dis-aggregated agro-climatic zone map of Ghana that is in tandem with the current climate change and variability. Our findings revealed significant changes in the number of climate zones, their boundary sizes and geographical orientation. The newly proposed agro-climatic zones map consist of five distinctive climate regimes namely Sudan Savannah, Guinea Savannah, Transition, Forest and Coastal zones. The Sudan and Guinea Savannah zones showed a southerly expansion. The transition zone shriveled in size as the Guinea Savannah zone took over most of it, notably in the southeast. The forest zone also shrank in size with a northwest shift while the coastal belt grew to encompass the whole coast of Ghana. These changes are strong evidence of climate change and possible food production changes. The findings of this study are useful to agriculture sector in planning their activities, the health sector in predicting specific diseases caused by changes in weather and climate, Ghana Meteorological Agency for weather forecasting purposes, and the National Disaster Management in identifying disaster prone zones.

J. N. A. Aryee1*, Maureen A. Ahiataku2, K. T. Quagraine3, P. Davies1, N. Agbenor-Efunam4, G. Agyapong5, Jacob Agyekum1, M. K. E. Donkor4, M. A. Osei1,6, L. P. Poku5, L. K. Amekudzi1 and S. K. Danuor4 Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, KNUST, Kumasi, GhanaGhana Meteorological Agency (GMet), Accra, Ghana.Indiana University - Bloomington, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Bloomington, USA.Department of Physics, KNUST, Kumasi, GhanaUniversity of Lille - Department of Physics, Lille, France Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK