This study delineates the salinity fronts (SF) across the tropical Pacific, and describes their variability and regional dynamical significance using Aquarius satellite observations. From the monthly maps of the SF, we find that the SF in the tropical Pacific are (1) usually observed around the boundaries of the fresh pool under the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), (2) stronger in boreal ...

A variety of observational and modeling studies show that changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) can induce rapid global-scale climate change. In particular, a substantially weakened AMOC leads to a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. However, the simulated amplitudes of the AMOC-induced tropical cl...

We present an evaluation of daily estimates from three near real-time quasi-global Satellite Precipitation Products—Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN), and Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Morphing Technique (CMORPH)—over the African contine...

The ITCZ lies at the ascending branch of the tropical meridional overturning circulation, where nearsurface meridional mass fluxes vanish. Near the ITCZ, column-integrated energy fluxes vanish, forming an atmospheric energy flux equator (EFE). This paper extends existing approximations relating the ITCZ position and EFE to the atmospheric energy budget by allowing for zonal variations. The resu...

Errors of coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) limit their utility for climate prediction and projection. Origins of and feedback for tropical biases are investigated in the historical climate simulations of eighteen CGCMs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5), together with the available Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations. Based on an in...

[1] Climate simulations, using models with different levels of complexity, indicate that the north-south position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) responds to changes in interhemispheric temperature contrast. Paleoclimate data on a variety of timescales suggest a similar behavior, with southward displacements of the ITCZ and associated changes in tropical atmospheric circulation dur...

[1] African climate is changing at rates unprecedented in the Late Holocene with profound implications for tropical ecosystems and the global hydrologic cycle. Understanding the specific climate drivers behind tropical ecosystem change is critical for both future and paleomodeling efforts. However, linkages between climate and vegetation in the tropics have been extremely controversial. The Nor...

Global climate underwent a major reorganization when the Antarctic ice sheet expanded ~14 million years ago (Ma) (1). This event affected global atmospheric circulation, including the strength and position of the westerlies and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and, therefore, precipitation patterns (2-5). We present new shallow-marine sediment records from the continental shelf of Aus...

While the zonal-mean position of intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is well explained using energetic framework, regional variations ITCZ have been more difficult to characterize. We show a simple metric, interhemispheric tropical sea surface temperature (SST) contrast, useful for estimating local over seasonal and interannual timescales in modern observations. demonstrate linear corresponde...

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean exhibits strong interannual variability, often co-occurring with positive Indian Ocean Dipole (pIOD) events. During what we identify as an extreme ITCZ event, a drastic northward shift of atmospheric convection coincides with an anomalously strong north-minus-south sea surface temperature (SST) gradient over the east...