ITCZ

Means Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone and that is exactly what you see on this picture. It is a band of clouds consisting of showers, with occasional thunderstorms, that encircles the globe near the equator. The ITCZ follows the sun. It moves north in the northern summer and south in the northern winter. The ITCZ is responsible for the wet and dry seasons in the tropics. It exists because of the convergence of the trade winds. In the northern hemisphere the trade winds move in a southwesterly direction, while in the southern hemisphere they move northwesterly. The point at which the trade winds converge forces the air up into the atmosphere, forming the ITCZ. Our position is 75 nautical miles South of Cape Palmas, Liberia, right now, and if you click on this LINK, you can see that in May, this area (just below Mamou) is colored blue, which means rain. Rain also means that painting of our funnels came to a stop, but portside funnel is finished just in time. I'll show you the result tomorrow.