The itcz hurricanes and droughts

The itcz hurricanes and droughts

• 1.
  Understanding Global Climate The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone and its Relevance to Droughts and Hurricanes
• 2.
  What Goes Up…………………………….The InterTropical Convergence Zone and its Relevance to Hurricanes
• 3.
  The ICTZ isthe band of cloud that you can see here; it wraps the whole way around the Earth underneath the solar equator
• 4.
  The ITCZ andHurricanes The reason why there are clouds at the ITCZ is that there is a lot of evapotranspiration occurring. This evapotranspiration is due to the sun being directly overhead. This evapotranspiration is the first stage of hurricane formation; the development of low pressure areas. Low pressure at surface
• 5.
  Summer in theNorthern Hemisphere is when the sun is directly Summer in over the Tropic of Cancer the Southern Hemisphere is when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn
• 6.
  The movement ofthe ITCZ as the seasons change has a huge influence over global climate as the weather associated with the ITCZ migrates with it.
• 7.
  You should beable to see that oceans north of the Equator are currently hotter than those south of the Equator: This is because the sun is over the northern hemisphere at the moment. You should also notice that the significant tropical storms and low pressure systems are all in the northern hemisphere at the moment Equator
• 8.
  The movement ofthe solar equator (and thus the ITCZ) is crucial for the formation of hurricanes for these 2 reasons: 1. It creates low pressure areas 2. It warms the ocean which provides the of convection rainfall that are hot water fuel that allows low pressure embryonic hurricanes areas to mature into full hurricanes Low Pressure
• 9.
  Must Come Down…………………………….The InterTropical Convergence Zone and its Relevance to Droughts
• 10.
  The Pressure GradientForce Very dry Lots of rain Very dry Important points: 1. Air always moves from high pressure areas to low pressure areas 2. Low pressure areas are created at the ITCZ due to solar radiation causing evapotranspiration 3. Warming air can hold increasing amounts of water in vapor form and vice versa
• 11.
  Global Arid Areas Noticethat, in Africa, the arid and hyper-arid areas are in the areas where the subtropical high pressure zones can be found. The effect of the ITCZ on Africa is particularly strong and as our drought case study is on Ethiopia, particularly relevant Drought causes are complex and so the movement of the ITCZ does not explain all drought. Other important factors are ocean currents and continentality.