Increasing Frequency of Midtropospheric Dry Layers in the Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone Academic Article

abstract

• 2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Recent long-term characterization of the Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) shows that the ITCZ has narrowed, which may be due to the enhanced transport of dry air layers from the subtropics. In this study, we examine the relationship between the frequency of midtropospheric dry layers and ITCZ width. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis Interim midtroposphere (400 to 600hPa) relative humidity is used to create a 36-year (19792014) dry layer climatology for the Pacific ITCZ region. Analysis shows an inverse relationship between ITCZ width and dry layer frequency, with ITCZ width decreasing as the frequency of dry layers increases. Moreover, findings show that the region of greatest long-term increase in dry layer frequency occurs in the central Pacific, where the greatest narrowing of the ITCZ is also observed.

authors

• Rapp, Anita

published proceedings

• GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

altmetric score

• 0.25

author list (cited authors)

• Bartos, E. A., Rapp, A. D., & Wodzicki, K. R.

citation count

• 2

complete list of authors

• Bartos, Elissa A||Rapp, AD||Wodzicki, KR

publication date

• December 2018

publisher

• American Geophysical Union (AGU)  Publisher

published in

• Geophysical Research Letters  Journal

keywords

• Dry Layers
• Hadley Cell
• Humidity
• Intertropical Convergence Zone
• Itcz Width
• Tropical Precipitation

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1029/2018GL080799

start page

• 13523

end page

• 13529

volume

• 45

issue

• 24

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018gl080799

user-defined tag

• 13 Climate Action