Asymmetry of the Intertropical Convergence Zone Asymmetry of the Intertropical Convergence Zone There are a number of explanations of the asymmetry of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), known by sailors as The Doldrums. The ITCZ would be expected to overlie the geographic equator according to symmetric solar radiation. However, the ITCZ is mostly perennial in the northern hemisphere and in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It was originally explained by the asymmetrical distribution of continents. However, the distribution of land and ocean is severely asymmetric in the Indian Ocean, yet the ITCZ moves back and forth there between the southern and northern hemispheres. Continents surround
Trade winds in Africa. There is a large variability in the dust transport to the Caribbean and Florida from year to year. Dust events have been linked to a decline in the health of coral reefs across the Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the 1970s. Trade winds The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of surface winds from the east toward the west (easterly) found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower part of the troposphere near the Earth's equator. The trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the