Migrations of tropical rain belt driven by tectonic dynamics over the past 250 Ma

The tropical rainfall, which contributes on about half of global rainfall, is manifested as a quasi-global rain belt called the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). This study examines the linkage between continental configurations and the annual mean latitude of ITCZ over the tectonic timescale. Over the past 250Ma, the break of supercontinent Pangea led to dramatic changes of continental mass distribution driven by tectonic dynamics. With a series of slicewise general climate model (GCM, CESM1.0) simulations over the past 250Ma, we investigate how is the latitude of ITCZ changes over time and how do the continental configurations set the latitude of ITCZ. With an energetic framework of the ITCZ latitude, we examined the contributions of the hemispheric asymmetry of radiation budget and ocean heat transport on the ITCZ latitude, and further demonstrate that those factors are largely driven by the continental configurations.