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.