The equtor receives the greatest amount of the Sun’s heat, making the land very hot. This heats up the air, creating a large area of mainly low pressure. This area is known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).
The ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) play important role in the global circulation system and also known as the Equatorial Convergence Zone or Intertropical Front. It is a basically low pressure belt encircling Earth near the Equator. It is a zone of convergence where the trade winds meet. Here, we are giving the concept, causes and impact of ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) for general awareness.
It is a zone between the northern and southern hemisphere where winds blowing equator-ward from the mid latitudes and winds flowing poleward from the tropics meet. It shifts from north and south seasonally according to the movement of the Sun. For Example- when the ITCZ is shifted to north of the Equator, the southeast trade wind changes to a southwest wind as it crosses the Equator. The ITCZ shifts only between 40° to 45° of latitude north or south of the equator based on the pattern of land and ocean.
ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) is caused by the convergence of northeast and southeast trade winds in the area encircling Earth near the Equator. For better understanding, we must know about the trade winds and air masses.
1. Trade Winds: Easterly winds that circle the Earth near the equator.
2. Air Masses: A volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapour content. In tropical latitudes this air mass is hot to very hot, with high relative humidity, bringing unstable weather.
It appears as a band of clouds consisting of showers, with occasional thunderstorms, that encircles the globe near the equator due to the convergence of the trade winds.
Picture Credit : Google