Intertropical Convergence Zone it is sometimes referred to as a monsoon trough, a usage more common in Australia and parts of Asia. In the seamen's speech, the zone is referred to as the doldrums because of its erratic (monotonous) weather patterns with stagnant calms and violent thunderstorms. The ITCZ appears as a band of clouds, usually thunderstorms, that encircle the globe near the Equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the trade winds move in a southwestward direction from the northeast, while in the Southern Hemisphere, they move northwestward from the southeast. When the ITCZ is positioned north or south of the Equator, these directions
Thermal equator of maximum temperatures surrounding the globe which migrates roughly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This region is known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone where the Earth orbits the Sun. This zone is the result of trade winds from the northern and southern part of the hemisphere eventually joining together. Still another definition states that the thermal equator is the latitude at which insolation is identical throughout the year. This is not the same as the astronomical equator because the Earth reaches perihelion (the minimum distance from the Sun in its orbit) in early January and