Coffee With The ITCZ

Thought I'd sit down and blog some thoughts on the ITCZ while enjoying coffee...

First: lets define the Intertropical Convergence Zone(ITCZ) The ITCZ is a band of low pressure that circles the globe in the equatorial zone that is found between 5 degrees North latitude and 5 degrees South latitude that is formed when the trade winds converge from North and South of the equator. I prefer to think of it as natures conveyor belt of rain....

This conveyor belt of rain is caused as the trade winds converge and pushes water vapor upward causing it to condense and create heavy rain storms that flow Westerly around the Earth in the equatorial zone...This can influence weather well into the mid latitudes..

Now the band of showers moves through the seasons because it is attracted to the area with the highest solar heating......So from September through February it move towards and into the southern hemisphere and from March through August it moves towards and into the Northern hemisphere..ENSO events also effect the movement and can disrupt the normal pattern and cause our conveyor belt to migrate to higher Seas surface temperatures...

The movement of the ITCZ is less over water because water is not as warm as the sun heats the land so you will see larger movements of the ITCZ over land..

If you are in the South West Atlantic region this means the ITCZ can spawn hurricanes in the summer because it is at it's furthest migratory points North. What happens is the corialis effect causes a low pressure area to spin off the belt Northward where they get caught up in the trade winds enhanced by the Bermuda high and form into a tropical depression and maybe a future Hurricane....

Needless to say since the ITCZ circles the Globe ALL tropical cyclone weather is influenced by the conveyor belt....

It sure is one of the 3 major ways hurricanes are formed...the other two being Tropical Waves and Frontal Genesis but those are subjects for another pot of coffee..............

FIRST.

Here is the latest ITCZ or the ITF ( African Intertropical Front )

From July 1-10, 2012, the ITF progressed further north and was still characterized by an anomalous northerly position for both its western and eastern segments. While the ITF western segment approximated 18.3 degrees North, it led the long-term and last year position by 0.6 and 1.6 degrees, respectively. The ITF eastern segment was located near 16.8 degrees North and was significantly ahead of the climatological and last year position by 1.5 and 2.1 degrees, respectively. The continued anomalous northerly position of the ITF during the first dekad of July could be partially attributed to vigorous moist southerly winds. Figure 1 shows the current ITF position relative to its average position during the first dekad of July and its previous position during the third dekad of June. Figures 2 and 3 are time series, illustrating the mean latitudinal values of the western and eastern portions of the ITF, respectively, and their evolutions since April, 2012.

Oh, BTW, nice blog Gomey, Thanks

Thanks for the great new blog Gomey!!!!!!

hey e....showing "only admins are allowed to see this image" in your comment

I forgot....YOU are deported, e !!!

Nice blog Gome. Very informative and easy to understand. Thanks.

Ecellent piece Gome . Very informative, thanks for taking the time!