An Examination of the East Pacific ITCZ Rainfall Distribution

Abstract

Very few (if any) in situ measurements of rainfall are available in the Pacific ITCZ east of the Line Islands (157°W). Hence, climatological datasets, which are assembled from various in situ sources, and satellite-derived analyses of precipitation are frequently relied upon to provide information on the distribution of rainfall in this important region. A substantial amount of disagreement exists among these information sources as demonstrated in this paper. In particular, the east–west gradient of estimated rainfall intensity in the eastern Pacific ITCZ is quite different during the Northern Hemisphere warm season among six different satellite algorithms (one infrared and five microwave) and two climatologies that are examined. Some of these data suggest that a local minimum in rainfall intensity is located near 140°W in the Pacific ITCZ during northern summer, with increasing intensity toward the east and west, while the others depict steadily decreasing rainfall intensity from west of the Americas to the date line. Conversely, all of the precipitation estimates that are examined depict a rainfall maximum in the Pacific ITCZ near 140°W during the Northern Hemisphere cool season, although the magnitudes vary substantially among them. The authors examine estimates of seasonal mean rainfall over the eastern Pacific ITCZ (cast of the date line) from two rainfall climatologies and six satellite precipitation estimation techniques during July 1987 through June 1990. Inconsistencies among the precipitation analyses are investigated by examining several independent datasets that include atmospheric circulation data, sea surface temperature data, and ship reports of weather type.