The seasonal migration of rainbelt in the low latitudes has generally been considered to be caused by that of the ITCZ. However, air streams such as trade winds and equatorial westerlies, as well as the ITCZ, have been pointed out as important factors which account for it. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the seasonal migration of rainbelt and its main causes along the southeast coastal region of Africa. Daily rainfall in 1963 was classified into the four types in terms of the causes of rain based on weather chart; rain in the NE Trade Winds (Type N), rain in the ITCZ (Type I), rain in the SE Trade Winds (Type S) and rain in the polar frontal zone in the Southern Hemisphere (Type F).
Type S was classified in terms of pressure gradient into two types; rain in the regime of the weak SE Trade Winds (Type S
1) and rain in the regime of the strong SE Trade Winds (Type S
2). The former is accompanied by the air mass with high dew point temperature, the latter by the air mass with low one.
Then the seasonal migration of rainbelt caused by each factor was demonstrated by using the three isoplethes (E
N, Es and W in Fig. 1) of daily rainfall. The feature of rainbelt caused by each factor was summerized as follows:
1. Type I extends to the north and south side of the ITCZ on weather chart, which in detail dominates to the south of it along the east coast (E
N and Es) and to the north of it along the west coast (W).
2. Type S concentrates along the east coast (E
N and Es) which faces windward and rarely appears along the west coast (W) because of the shadow effect of the high mountain ranges of Madagascar.
3. Type S
1 is mainly caused by the passage of cold front without cold surge along E
N and by easterly wave and the other factors along Es.
4. Type S
2 is mainly caused by the cold surge without the passage of cold front along E
N and Es, Then easterly wave rarely appears on weather chart.
5. Type N appears along E
N, not along Es and W.
6. Type F appears along Es, not along E
N and W.
Seasonal change of air streams was summerized as follows (Fig. 9):
1. From January to February, the ITCZ migrates most southward and crosses Madagascar.
2. In March, the ITCZ migrates northward to East Africa and the regime of the weak SE Trade Winds covers Madagascar.
3. From April to May, since the ITCZ migrates northward to the Northern Hemisphere, the regime of the weakest SE Trade Winds covers all the southeast coastal region of Africa and polar frontal zone temporalily shifts northward to the south of Madagascar.
4. A few days before the onset of the Indian monsoon, the regime of the weakest SE Trade Winds is suddenly taken place of by that of the strong SE Trade Winds and outburst of cold air begins.
5. From June to July, the regime of the strongest SE Trade Winds is established all over the region.
The seasonal change of air streams causes the seasonal migration of rainbelts as follows (Fig. 9):
1. From January to February, Type I appears over Madagascar (Es and W) and Type N appears along E
N.
2. In March, Type I appears along E
N and Type S
1 appears along Es.
3. From April to May, Type S
1 appears along E
N and Type F appears in the south o f Es.
4. From June to July, Type S
2 appears along E
N and Es.
The factors which cause the maximum monthly rainfall in 1963 were extracted and the the results were generalized in comparison with the situation of average year as follows: 1. The months of maximum rainfall along E
N and Es (March to May) correspond to the establishment of the regime of the weak SE Trade Winds as soon as the ITCZ migrates northward and are early in the south, late in the north.
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