The Response of the ITCZ to Extratropical Thermal Forcing: Idealized Slab-Ocean Experiments with a GCM
Princeton University · NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory · +1 more institution
Abstract
Abstract Using a comprehensive atmospheric GCM coupled to a slab mixed layer ocean, experiments are performed to study the mechanism by which displacements of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) are forced from the extratropics. The northern extratropics are cooled and the southern extratropics are warmed by an imposed cross-equatorial flux beneath the mixed layer, forcing a southward shift in the ITCZ. The ITCZ displacement can be understood in terms of the degree of compensation between the imposed oceanic flux and the resulting response in the atmospheric energy transport in the tropics. The magnitude of the ITCZ displacement is very sensitive to a parameter in the convection scheme that limits the…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 8.04
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 22
Authors
4Topics & keywords
- Intertropical Convergence Zone
- Extratropical cyclone
- Climatology
- Convection
- Environmental science
- Forcing (mathematics)
- Mixed layer
- Atmospheric sciences
- Climate action