Evolution of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone, and the South American and African Monsoons Over the Past 95‐Myr and Their Impact on the Tropical Rainforests

R. Paul Acosta (1) , Jean‐baptiste Ladant (2) , Jiang Zhu (3) , Christopher J Poulsen (1)

1 University of Michigan System
2 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
3 NCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research [Boulder]

The seasonal, cross-hemisphere migration of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and its transition into distinct tropical monsoon systems, the South American and the African monsoons, delivers substantial precipitation into the South American and African continents. These atmospheric circulations drive continental hydroclimate and consequently regulate the expansion and contraction of the regional tropical rainforest systems. The ITCZ and monsoons are strongly influenced by the position of the surrounding landmasses (Gill, 1980; Privé & Plumb, 2007b), which differed substantially in the past (Pletsch et al., 2001; Seton et al., 2012). For example, based on paleoclimate simulations of the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic (∼250 Ma), when the South American and African continents was the West Gondwana mega-continent, a single "mega-monsoon" system

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Interfaces continentales, environnement

R. Paul Acosta, Jean‐baptiste Ladant, Jiang Zhu, Christopher J Poulsen. Evolution of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone, and the South American and African Monsoons Over the Past 95‐Myr and Their Impact on the Tropical Rainforests. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 2022, 37 (7), ⟨10.1029/2021pa004383⟩. ⟨hal-03738516⟩