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Revisiting the latitude fluctuations of the eastern Pacific ITCZ during the central Pacific El Niño
Author(s) -
Xie Ruihuang,
Yang Yuxing
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061857
Subject(s) - intertropical convergence zone , equator , latitude , climatology , geology , convergence zone , precipitation , sea surface temperature , zonal and meridional , gcm transcription factors , pacific ocean , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geography , climate change , geodesy , meteorology , general circulation model
Some previous studies have reported that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the eastern Pacific (EP) shifted northward during the peak phase of the central Pacific (CP‐type) El Niño. However, this study presents a new result that the EP ITCZ shifts slightly southward in the peak season and rarely has an anomalous meridional shift during other seasons of the CP‐type El Niño. Unlike the extensive southward shift of the anomalous convergence in the conventional EP‐type El Niño, the convergence anomalies during the CP‐type El Niño develop locally without extending beyond the EP ITCZ region. Therefore, it is risky to infer the latitude fluctuation of the EP ITCZ from the cross‐equator southerly and precipitation/convergence anomalies in the EP during the CP‐type El Niño. A suggestion of doing so is to examine both the anomalous and total patterns of sea surface temperature and low‐level wind convergence.