ALBERT

Description: Two currently existing long-term satellite-derived data sets (the Highly Reflective Cloud (HRC) and the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) data sets) were compared for the accuracy in estimating tropical deep convection, in terms of their climatological and frequency-dependent characteristics, their consistency in identifying deep tropical convection, and their relationship to local sea surface temperature (SST). The results reveal some important differences between the HRC and OLR data sets in terms of their temporal and spatial scales of variability, their relationships to other geophysical fields, and the logistics of their use. It was found that, for many applications, the HRC data set represents the characteristics of the cloud cluster-scale tropical convection more accurately than the OLR data set.

Description: The latitude preference of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is examined on the basis of observations, theory, and a modeling analysis. Observations show that convection is enhanced at latitudes of about 4 deg to 10 deg relative to the equator, even in regions where the sea surface temperature (SST) is maximum on the equator. Both linear shallow-water theory and a moist primitive equation model suggest a new explanation for the off-equatorial latitude preference of the ITCZ that requires neither the existence of zonally propagating disturbances nor an off-equatorial maximum in SST. The shallow-water theory indicates that a finite-width, zonally oriented, midtropospheric heat source (i.e., an ITCZ) produces the greatest local low-level convergence when placed a finite distance away from the equator. This result suggests that an ITCZ is most likely to be supported via low-level convergence of moist energy when located at these "preferred" latitudes away from the equator. For a plausible range of heating widths and damping parameters, the theoretically predicted latitude is approximately equal to the observed position (s) of the ITCZ (s). Analysis with an axially symmetric, moist, primitive equation model indicates that when the latent heating field is allowed to be determined internally, a positive feedback develops between the midtropospheric latent heating and the low-level convergence, with the effect of enhancing the organization of convection at latitudes of about 4 deg to 12 deg. Numerical experiments show that (1) two peaks in convective precipitation develop straddling the equator when the SST maximum is located on the equator; (2) steady ITCZ-like structures form only when the SST maximum is located away from the equator; and (3) peaks in convection can develop away from the maximum in SST, with a particular preference for latitudes of about 4 deg to 12 deg, even in the ('cold') hemisphere without the SST maximum. The relationship between this mechanism and earlier theories is discussed, as are implications for the coupled ocean-atmosphere system and the roles played by midlevel latent heating and SST gradients in forcing the low-level atmospheric circulation in the tropics.

Description: This paper presents fundamental climatological characteristics of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in a simple concise manner using the highly reflective cloud (HRC) dataset. This satellite-derived dataset uses both visible and infrared observations to measure the frequency of occurrence of large-scale convective systems over the global tropics at a 1 deg spatial resolution. These dataset characteristics make the HRC particularly well suited for climatological analysis of the ITCZ because the dataset is based on estimates of organized deep convective cloud systems rather than observations of clouds as a whole, and it provides the spatial resolution needed to identify these large-scale convective structures. Furthermore, the dataset covers a time period extending nearly two decades, which provides for a fairly robust climatology and the opportunity to examine seasonal and interannual variability of both the convection and the latitude of the ITCZ.