section_path: Causes and effects/Tropics
section_name: Tropics
paragraph_text: Tropics
  
  The tropical and (to a lesser degree) subtropical regions see little annual fluctuation of sunlight and temperature due Earth's moderate 23.4-degree tilt being insufficient to appreciably affect the strength of the sun's rays annually. The slight differences between the solstices and the equinoxes cause seasonal shifts along a rainy low-pressure belt called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ICZ). As a result, the amount of precipitation tends to vary more dramatically than the average temperature. When the ICZ is north of the Equator, the northern tropics experience their wet season while the southern tropics have their dry season. This pattern reverses when the ICZ migrates to a position south of the Equator.