Processes Controlling the Mean Tropical Pacific Precipitation Pattern. Part I: The Andes and the Eastern Pacific ITCZ

Abstract

The question of why the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is generally north of the equator in the tropical Pacific is addressed. Experiments with an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to idealized representations of the ocean show that the presence of the Andes is enough to lower sea surface temperature (SST) off the west coast of South America through evaporation, thus promoting a north?south asymmetry, with the ITCZ north of the equator, which is amplified by interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere. The evaporative cooling results mainly from the subsidence of low specific humidity air, which is due in turn to the mechanical effect of the Andes on the zonal mean flow. The positive feedback from low-level clouds on SST is an important factor for the efficiency of the mechanism described. West of 120°W, the presence of the Rockies and Himalayas produces a comparable forcing to that of the Andes, but this is not enough to reverse or neutralize the north?south asymmetry set by the Andes. It is shown that the longitudinal offset between the forcings in both hemispheres allows the Andes to preferentially set the north?south asymmetry, which propagates westward into the rest of the Pacific. Asymmetry in the observed ocean heat transports (more heat transport convergence in the Northern Hemisphere) associated with the Kuroshio was found to reinforce the effect of the Andes, although it is not a strong forcing by itself. Sensitivity experiments indicate that the north?south asymmetry of the ITCZ caused (evaporatively) by the Andes is robust to the presence of a strong equatorial cold tongue and to seasonality in insolation.