The Relationship between ITCZ Location and Cross-Equatorial Atmospheric Heat Transport: From the Seasonal Cycle to the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract

The authors quantify the relationship between the location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the atmospheric heat transport across the equator (AHT[subscript EQ]) in climate models and in observations. The observed zonal mean ITCZ location varies from 5.3°S in the boreal winter to 7.2°N in the boreal summer with an annual mean position of 1.65°N while the AHT[subscript EQ] varies from 2.1 PW northward in the boreal winter to 2.3 PW southward in the boreal summer with an annual mean of 0.1 PW southward. Seasonal variations in the ITCZ location and AHT[subscript EQ] are highly anticorrelated in the observations and in a suite of state-of-the-art coupled climate models with regression coefficients of −2.7° and −2.4° PW[superscript −1] respectively. It is also found that seasonal variations in ITCZ location and AHT[subscript EQ] are well correlated in a suite of slab ocean aquaplanet simulations with varying ocean mixed layer depths. However, the regression coefficient between ITCZ location and AHT[subscript EQ] decreases with decreasing mixed layer depth as a consequence of the asymmetry that develops between the winter and summer Hadley cells as the ITCZ moves farther off the equator. The authors go on to analyze the annual mean change in ITCZ location and AHT[subscript EQ] in an ensemble of climate perturbation experiments including the response to CO[subscript 2] doubling, simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum, and simulations of the mid-Holocene. The shift in the annual average ITCZ location is also strongly anticorrelated with the change in annual mean AHT[subscript EQ] with a regression coefficient of −3.2° PW[superscript −1], similar to that found over the seasonal cycle.