Distortion of the Pacific ITCZ by the American landmass

In the Gulf of Panama and western Colombia, the eastern Pacific ITCZ abuts the mountainous American landmass, yielding one of the rainiest climates on Earth. At this intersection, organized convection is abundant during both the northern and southern hemisphere summer monsoon seasons. We are exploring the diurnal climatology of this convection using observations (chiefly satellite data) and the MM5 mesoscale model with nested grids. Experimental runs with idealized geography are used to indicate the roles of local orography, land surface processes, sea surface temperature, and larger-scale dynamics in determining the climate where the ITCZ meets a tropical continent.