Intertropical Convergence Zone

The ITCZ is formed by vertical motion largely appearing as convective activity of thunderstorms driven by solar heating, which effectively draw air in; these are the trade winds.Rather, it is modulated by a number of regional features such as local atmospheric jets and waves, proximity to the oceans, terrain-induced convective systems, moisture recycling, and spatiotemporal variability of land cover and albedo.When ENSO reaches its warm phase, otherwise known as El Niño, the tongue of lowered sea surface temperatures due to upwelling off the South American continent disappears, which causes this convergence zone to vanish as well.[citation needed] In the Age of Sail, to find oneself becalmed in this region in a hot and muggy climate could mean death when wind was the only effective way to propel ships across the ocean.[15] Even today, leisure and competitive sailors attempt to cross the zone as quickly as possible as the erratic weather and wind patterns may cause unexpected delays.[16] The aircraft crashed with no survivors while flying through a series of large ITCZ thunderstorms, and ice forming rapidly on airspeed sensors was the precipitating cause for a cascade of human errors which ultimately doomed the flight.Atmospheric reanalyses suggest that the ITCZ over the Pacific has narrowed and intensified since at least 1979, in agreement with data collected by satellites and in-situ precipitation measurements.The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report indicated "medium agreement" from studies regarding the strengthening and tightening of the ITCZ due to anthropogenic climate change.[20] The doldrums are notably described in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) and also provide a metaphor for the initial state of boredom and indifference of Milo, the child hero of Norton Juster's classic 1961 children's novel The Phantom Tollbooth.
The ITCZ is visible as a band of clouds encircling Earth near the Equator.
Seasonal variability of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), Congo air boundary (CAB), tropical rainbelt, and surface winds over Africa (adapted from Dezfuli 2017 with modification). This schematic shows that the ITCZ and the region of maximum rainfall can be decoupled over the continents. [ 6 ]
Vertical air velocity at 500 hPa, July average. Ascent (negative values) is concentrated close to the solar equator ; descent (positive values) is more diffuse
The ITCZ moves farther away from the equator during the Northern summer than the Southern one due to the North-heavy arrangement of the continents.
Hurricanes Celia and Darby in the eastern Pacific and the precursor to Hurricane Alex in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. (2010)
Line graph showing titanium concentrations over time within Cariaco Basin sediment
Titanium concentrations in sediment within the Cariaco Basin have been used as a paleoclimate proxy to infer shifts in the ITCZ. [ 17 ]
Calm (disambiguation)Doldrums (disambiguation)trade windsthermal equatorequatormonsoonalmonsoon troughwind field convergencetropicalNorthern HemisphereSouthern HemisphereCoriolis effectEarth's rotationconvectiveHadley cellhorse latitudesconvergence zonesolar equatorSouth Pacific convergence zoneFrench PolynesiaInternational Date Lineland mass10° south140th meridian westEl Niño–Southern Oscillationsea surface temperaturesdroughtsMadden–Julian oscillationHurricane AlexTropical cyclogenesisvorticitywind shearCoriolis forcetropical cyclonestropical wavesAge of SailAir France Flight 447Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International AirportCharles de Gaulle AirportEffects of climate change on the water cycleTitaniumCariaco Basinpaleoclimate proxieschanges in global climateHeinrich eventsmid-Holoceneinsolationaerosolsclimate modelsforced changesdrought in the SahelAtmospheric convectionAtmospheric reanalysesoutgoing longwave radiationsubtropicsIPCC Sixth Assessment Reportorbital variationsmonsoonsAtlantic meridional overturning circulationCoupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6Samuel Taylor ColeridgeThe Rime of the Ancient MarinerNorton JusterThe Phantom TollboothWind, Sand and StarsAsymmetry of the Intertropical Convergence ZoneChemical equatorPolar frontRoaring FortiesNational Weather ServiceChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaBarry, Roger GrahamChorley, Richard J.BibcodeOffice of Naval ResearchWayback MachineThe GuardianHaug, Gerald H.Sigman, Daniel M.American Association for the Advancement of ScienceGulev, Sergey K.Thorne, Peter W.Masson-Delmotte, ValerieZhai, PanmaoRenwick, JamesUniversity of South CarolinaScientific American