The ITCZ is defined as the region where the northeasterly trade wind meets the southeasterly trade wind near the equator over the ocean. It can be easily recognized as a meridionally narrow band of high precipitation or cloudiness that is zonally elongated almost parallel to the equator in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

My past research on the ITCZ aimed to understand how much synoptic-scale (5 - 10 days) disturbances contribute to the mean signal of the ITCZ and the general characteristics of the double ITCZ, an occasional phenomenon of two parallel ITCZs on each side of the equator, which is apparent usually in March - May in the eastern Pacific.

My current research on the ITCZ focuses on two aspects: its interaction with the large-scale meridional circulation, especially with a shallow meridional circulation (see Research III) and its interaction with African aerosol in the tropical Atlantic Ocean (see Research IV).

My publications on this subject:

McGauley, M., C. Zhang, and N.A. Bond, 2004: Large-scale characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer in the eastern Pacific cold tongue/ITCZ region. J. Climate, 17, 3907-3920. (reprint )

Zhang, C., M. McGauley, and N.A. Bond, 2004: Shallow meridional ciruclation in the tropical eastern Pacific. J. Climate, 17, 133-139. (reprint)

Gu, G. and C. Zhang, 2002: Cloud components of the ITCZ. J. Geophy. Res., 107(D21), 4565, doi:10.1029/2002JD0 02089. (reprint)

Gu. G., and C. Zhang, 2002: Westward-propagating synoptic-scale distu rbances and the ITCZ.  J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 1062-1075. (reprint) 36

Gu. G., and C. Zhang, 2001: A spectral analysis of westward-propagating synoptic-scale disturbances in the ITCZ. J. Climate, 14, 2725-2739. (reprint)

Zhang, C., 2001: Double ITCZs. J. Geophy. Res. , 106, 46 11,785-11,792. (reprint)