Abstract
Repeated integrations of GCMs with simple boundary conditions and the diagnostic application of a linear primitive equation model are used to understand the physical mechanisms that lead to the observed perturbation of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in summer.
One application addresses the role of surface drying in determining the longitudinal precipitation gradient across South America and Africa in austral summer. Different mechanisms are responsible for the response in different regions, leading to a longitudinal dependence in the response to surface drying.
A secorui application concerns the role of surface roughness in establishing the West African precipitation climatology. Frictional convergence and vorticity advection are found to force anomalous low-level convergence in this region in boreal summer.
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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Cook, K.H. (1994). Understanding Perturbations of the Intertropical Convergence Zone Over Tropical Continents. In: Desbois, M., Désalmand, F. (eds) Global Precipitations and Climate Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 26. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79268-7_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79268-7_22
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