QuikScat�s Look at Surface Winds Coming Together Over 4 Months

This image from QuikScat shows 4 typical months of wind movement near the equator, March, June, September and December 2001. The red and yellow colors are convergence, indicating where winds are coming together. The blue colors indicate divergence, where winds are blowing away from each other. The Southern Intertropical Convergence Zone is depicted by the zonally oriented yellow patches south of the equator.

QuikScat data have identified the Southern Intertropical Convergence Zone for the first time during all seasons across the entire eastern Pacific and Atlantic. The major features from this QuikScat data are in good agreement with the climatological wind divergence maps compiled from ship reports.