ITCZ Influence Strength Over 6,800 Years

PC1 scores quantify the relative strength of Intertropical Convergence Zone influence on regional climate systems across the Northern Hemisphere. The dataset contains the first principal component scores derived from 11 paleoclimate records, covering the past 6,800 years at a 20-year resolution. It was created by author Yuwei Zhang and published on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze the temporal evolution of ITCZ influence strength by examining the PC1 score time-series over 340 data points.
• Correlate the PC1 scores, representing integrated ITCZ variability, with external solar forcing indices to assess climate drivers.
• Compare the PC1-derived ITCZ signal strength between East Asian and Central Asian regional climate systems referenced in the source records.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal span of 6,800 years providing millennial-scale context.
• Derived from 11 rigorously selected and regionally distributed paleoclimate proxy records.
• Provides uniform 20-year resolution data points for consistent time-series analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset is very small at 16.0 KB, containing only the derived PC1 scores without the underlying 11 source records.
• Limited to the Northern Hemisphere, with no data from the Southern Hemisphere for a full global analysis.
• The analysis depends on the selection and quality of the 11 input paleoclimate proxies, which introduces methodological constraints.

Provenance

Source

Derived from 11 paleoclimate records selected for common solar forcing.

Collection Method

First principal component scores obtained from a principal component analysis of the source records.

Time Range

Past 6,800 years.

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere, including East Asia and Central Asia.