Precipitation is a key component of the hydrological cycle and one most important variables in weather climate studies. Accurate reliable precipitation data are crucial for determining trends variability. In this study, eleven different datasets compared, six reanalysis five observational datasets, including ERA5 WFDE5 from ECMWF family, to quantify differences between widely used identify thei...

Despite the equatorial symmetry of the annual-mean insolation, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the collocated band of high sea surface temperature (SST) assume perennial northern latitudes over the eastern Pacific and Atlantic. An atmospheric general circulation model is coupled with an intermediate ocean model to study continental forcing and oceanic–atmospheric interaction that ...

The authors quantify the relationship between the location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the atmospheric heat transport across the equator (AHTEQ) in climate models and in observations. The observed zonal mean ITCZ location varies from 5.38S in the boreal winter to 7.28N in the boreal summer with an annual mean position of 1.658Nwhile the AHTEQ varies from 2.1 PW northward in...

Two theoretical frameworks have been widely used to understand the response of monsoons to local and remote forcings: the vertically integrated atmospheric energy budget and convective quasi-equilibrium (CQE). Existing forms of these frameworks neglect some of the complexities of monsoons, such as the shallow meridional circulations that advect dry air from adjacent deserts into the middle and ...

Data from the Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate Studies (EPIC) mooring array are used to evaluate the annual cycle of surface cloud forcing in the far eastern Pacific stratus cloud deck/cold tongue/ intertropical convergence zone complex. Data include downwelling surface solar and longwave radiation from 10 EPIC-enhanced Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) moorings from 8°S, 95°W to 12°N, 95...

A coupled atmosphere–ocean–coastline model driven by solar radiation is advanced to understand the essential physics determining the annual cycle of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)–equatorial cold tongue (ECT) complex and associated latitudinal climate asymmetry. With a thermocline depth similar to that of the western Pacific, the aquaplanet climate is latitudinal symmetric and stable...

[1] The reasons for the inter-annual variability of dust transport from the Sahara across the Atlantic are not well-understood. Here we address this issue by defining three new climate indices that capture the position and intensity of the zone of near-surface convergence over West Africa, a part of the global Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). We then relate these indices to a 38-year reco...

[1] The abundance of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer in Gulf of Mexico (GOM) sediments is a proxy for the influx of Caribbean surface waters (the Loop Current) into the GOM. Penetration of the Loop Current into the GOM is related to the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ): northward migration of the ITCZ results in increased incursion of the Loop Current in...

6 We quantify the relationship between the location of the intertropical convergence zone 7 (ITCZ) and the atmospheric heat transport across the equator (AHTEQ) in climate models 8 and in observations. The observed zonal mean ITCZ loaction varies from 5.3◦S in the Boreal 9 winter to 7.2◦N in the Boreal summer with an annual mean position of 1.65◦N while the 10 AHTEQ varies from 2.1 PW northward...

Through study of observations and coupled climate simulations, it is argued that the mean position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) north of the equator is a consequence of a northwards heat transport across the equator by ocean circulation. Observations suggest that the hemispheric net radiative forcing of climate at the top of the atmosphere is almost perfectly symmetric about th...