This paper presents fundamental climatological characteristics of the
intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in a simple concise manner using
the highly reflective cloud (HRC) dataset. This satellite-derived dat
aset uses both visible and infrared observations to measure the freque
ncy of occurrence of large-scale convective systems over the global tr
opics at a 1-degrees spatial resolution. These dataset characteristics
make the HRC particularly well suited for climatological analysis of
the ITCZ because the dataset is based on estimates of organized deep c
onvective cloud systems rather than observations of clouds as a whole,
and it provides the spatial resolution needed to identify these large
-scale convective structures. Furthermore, the dataset covers a time p
eriod extending nearly two decades, which provides for a fairly robust
climatology and the opportunity to examine seasonal and inter-annual
variability of both the convection and the latitude of the ITCZ.