Where is the intertropical convergence zone found

CrossRef Google Scholar. Chang, J. Atmospheric Circulation Systems and Climates. Honolulu, Hawaii: Oriental Publishing Co. Google Scholar. Charney, J.

Tropical cyclogenesis and the formation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. In Reid, W. Lectures in Applied Mathematics , Vol. American Mathematics Society, pp. Fletcher, R. The general circulation of the tropical and equatorial atmosphere.

Journal of Meteorology , 2 : — Goswami, B. Hastenrath, S. On mean meridional circulations in the tropics. Henderson-Sellers, A. Contemporary Climatology. NY: John Wiley. Hess, P. Maintenance of the Intertropical Convergence Zones and the large scale tropical circulation on a water covered earth. The tendency for convective storms in the tropics is to be short in their duration, usually on a small scale.

But these short lived storms can produce intense rainfall. It is estimated that 40 percent of all tropical rainfall rates exceed one inch per hour. The ITCZ follows the sun in that the position varies seasonally.

It moves north in the Northern Hemisphere summer and south in the Northern Hemisphere winter. Therefore, the ITCZ is responsible for the wet and dry seasons in the tropics. The sun crosses the equator twice a year in March and September, and consequently makes for two wet seasons each year. In December and July, when the sun is at its greatest extent north or south of the equator makes for two dry seasons.

Areas near the equator in western and southern Africa have a single intense rainy season from July to September. In eastern Africa S. Ethiopia to central Tanzania , however, there are two rainy seasons. Since the distance covered by the ITCZ is quite large in this part of the continent, the rainy seasons are less intense than those of western Africa. That is, the ITCZ dumps the same amount of rain in the east as it does in the west, but that rain gets distributed over a larger area in the east because of the greater movement of the weather system.

Farther to the north, along the Mediterranean Sea coast, the climate is not affected directly by the ITCZ and rain falls in the winter. Intertropical convergence zone ITCZ and rain location. What do YOU think? Please address questions and comments about this open educational resource to the site editor. The position of the ITCZ varies with the seasons, and lags behind the sun's relative position above the Earth's surface by about 1 to 2 months, and correlates generally to the thermal equator.

Since water has a higher heat capacity than land, the ITCZ propagates poleward more prominently over land than over water, and over the Northern Hemisphere than over the Southern Hemisphere. Over land, the ITCZ tends to follow the sun's zenith point. However, where the trade winds are stronger, the ITCZ can spawn a solid line of active Cb cells embedded with other cloud types developing as a result of instability at higher levels.