Sensitivity of ITCZ configuration to cumulus convective parameterizations on an aqua planet

This paper examines the performances of various cumulus convective parameterization schemes in the tropical atmosphere using an aqua-planet atmospheric General Circulation Model forced by zonally symmetric but latitudinally varying sea surface temperature (SST) and solar angle. The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is represented by intense precipitation. The assigned Control experiment with a specific SST distribution, as designated by the Aqua Planet Experiment, yields a single ITCZ when Zhang’s scheme or Manabe’s scheme is employed, whereas a double ITCZ occurs when Tiedtke’s scheme is used. The key to the occurrence of a double ITCZ is latitudinal variation in evaporation within the boundary layer. Such variation is induced mainly by latitudinal variation in the zonal wind speed, with the existence of a calm belt at the equator and a maximum wind speed located off the equator, arising from the evaporation–wind feedback (EWF) mechanism. The latitudinal distribution of evaporation results in a decrease in the height of the lifting condensation level in areas off the equator and an increase at the equator. The occurrence of a single ITCZ in Zhang’s scheme is attributed to the use of a Convective Available Potential Energy criterion by which convection occurs more readily at the equator. As a result, a precipitation maximum is maintained at the equator via a prevailing Conditional Instability of the Second Kind mechanism.