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A climatology of Southern Hemisphere anticyclones

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Abstract

A climatology of anticyclones generated by an objective automatic scheme applied to 15 years of once-daily Australian Bureau of Meteorology hemispheric analyses is presented. Contour maps of the anticyclone system density, positions of formation and dissipation together with other statistics are shown. The distribution of anticyclones through the hemisphere was found to be dominated by a mid latitude belt of high density, located in the band 25–42°S, typically 24° south of the time-mean subtropical ridge. Within this band the anticyclone density displays considerable structure with greater system numbers over the eastern parts of the three subtropical ocean basins in the vicinity of the three subtropical ocean time-mean anticyclones. During winter the system density displays a bifurcation in the New Zealand sector, with the highest density along the 30 and 45°S latitude bands. The movement of systems in the subtropical ocean basins was found to be in a general easterly direction with a weak equatorwards component, the transport of systems closely following the orientation of the belt of highest system density. In the vicinity of the African and South American continents, movement was more complex with east-south-east motion upstream, and east-north-east movement downstream, the net transport being such as to encourage a general steering of systems around the continental land masses more particularly during the warmer seasons. To highlight the dynamic role played by these systems and their cyclonic counterparts, we present a limited investigation of the response of Southern Hemisphere synoptic systems to variations of the broader atmospheric system and compare these findings to those obtained by more traditional analysis techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia

    David A Jones & Ian Simmonds

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  1. David A Jones
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  2. Ian Simmonds
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Jones, D.A., Simmonds, I. A climatology of Southern Hemisphere anticyclones. Climate Dynamics 10, 333–348 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00228031

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00228031

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