according to general circulation model (gcm), zonal thermal belts are 1- inter-tropical convergence zones (itcz) around eqator; 2- sub tropical high (sth) belt around 30 degree latitude; 3- sub polar low (spl) belt around high latitudes. the belt of inter-tropical convergence zone (itcz) displaces in meridional path, about 5° over the oceans and up to 40° over continents, during the seasons of ...

Using outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) daily rain-rate data, systematic changes in intensity and location of the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) were detected along the equator during boreal spring. It is found that the changes in convection over the tropical Atlantic may be induced by deep convection in equatorial South America. La...

This chapter begins with a brief history of Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) research. It then goes on to summarize recent progress in understanding why the ITCZ is locked in the Northern Hemisphere in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and how this northward-displaced ITCZ affects the space-time structure of tropical climate variability.

Tropospheric winds can be altered by vertical transfers of momentum due to orographic gravity waves and convection. Previous work showed that, in dry models, such zonally asymmetric torques produce a pattern of tropical ascent that is well described by linear dynamics, together withmeridional shifts of the midlatitude jet. Here a series of idealizedmodels is used to understand the effects of mo...

[1] Shipboard radiosonde measurements revealed a persistent temperature inversion layer with a thickness of 200 m at 12–13 km in a nonconvective region over the tropical eastern Pacific, along 2 N, in September 1999. Simultaneous relative humidity measurements indicated that the thin inversion layer was located at the top of a very wet layer with a thickness of 3–4 km, which was found to origin...

An atmospheric GCM coupled to a slab ocean model is used to investigate how temperature and precipitation over South America and Africa affect the annual cycle of the Atlantic ITCZ. The main conclusion of this study is that variations in precipitation and temperature forced by the annual cycle of insolation over the continents are as important as variations in insolation over the ocean and in o...

Aquarius observations feature a prominent zonal sea-surface salinity (SSS) front that extends across the tropical Pacific between 2–10 N. By linking to Argo subsurface salinity observations and satellitederived surface forcing datasets, the study discovered that the SSS front is not a stand-alone feature; it is in fact the surface manifestation of a low-salinity convergence zone (LSCZ) located ...

We examine the mean and transient state of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) by analyzing data and using simple theory. We concentrate on the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean noting that there exists in this region a well-developed mean ITCZ. Furthermore, it is a region where there has been considerable discussion in the literature of whether easterly waves develop in situ or propagate we...

Abstract. Organised cloud bands are important features of tropical and subtropical rainfall. These structures often regarded as convergence zones, alluding to an association with coherent atmospheric flow. However, the flow kinematics is not usually taken into account in classification methods for this type event, large-scale lines rarely evident instantaneous diagnostics such Eulerian converge...

Oceanic tropical clouds are observed to occur at various length scales over the equatorial trough zone (an area around the intertropical convergence zone or ITCZ). As one proceeds from the subtropics towards the equator, the cloud types range from small stratocumulus, small cumulus (including trade cumulus), cumulus, cumulonimbus (isolated) and large mesoscale convective systems (MCSs)with a co...