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The ITCZ is visible as a band of clouds encircling Earth near the Equator. The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ / ɪ tʃ / ITCH, or ICZ), [1] known by sailors as the doldrums [2] or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge.
February position of the ITCZ and monsoon trough in the Pacific Ocean, depicted by area of convergent streamlines offshore Australia and in the equatorial eastern Pacific. Monsoon troughing in the western Pacific reaches its zenith in latitude during the late summer when the wintertime surface ridge in the opposite hemisphere is the strongest.
An example of a convergence zone is the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a low pressure area which girdles the Earth at the Equator. [3] Another example is the South Pacific convergence zone that extends from the western Pacific Ocean toward French Polynesia. The ITCZ shifts with the tilt of the earth, coinciding with the changing of seasons.
The ITCZ would be expected to overlie the geographic equator according to symmetric solar radiation. [1] However, the ITCZ is mostly perennial in the northern hemisphere and in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. [2] [3] It was originally explained by the asymmetrical distribution of continents.
The prevailing trade winds are a manifestation of the lower branches of the Hadley circulation, converging air and moisture in the tropics to form the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where the Earth's heaviest rains are located. Shifts in the ITCZ associated with the seasonal variability of the Hadley circulation cause monsoons.
Worldwide zones of Tropical savanna climate (Aw/As) Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories Aw (for a dry "winter") and As (for a dry "summer").
As such, during the northern summer (May and June), the ITCZ moves north, along with the vertical sun, toward the Tropic of Cancer. The ITCZ, as the zone of lowest pressure in the tropical region, is the target destination for the trade winds of both hemispheres. Consequently, with the ITCZ at the Tropic of Cancer, the southeast trade winds of ...
At the surface, the current is located on the southern slope of the North Equatorial Trough, a region of low sea level which extends from east to west across the Pacific. The low sea level is a result of Ekman suction caused by the increased easterly winds found just to the north of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).