Southern Ocean Fronts
The mean and time-varying position of the main Southern Ocean polar fronts has been calculated from a combination of gridded altimetric sea level anomalies and a new climatology of mean sea level constructed from historical data and ARGO T / S profiles.
Information on the climatological data base is given here, as well as access to the climatological data.
This dataset is used to monitor the position of the three main fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) - the Polar Front, and the northern and southern branches of the Subantarctic Front (SAF-N and SAF-S)
This week's position of the PF and SAF-S can also be viewed, overlaid on the active ARGO profiles.
Figure : Density at 500 dB from the new climtological data base, showing also the mean position of the three fronts : SAF-N, SAF-S, PF.
Reference : Sallée, J.B.; Speer, K and Morrow, R. Southern Ocean fronts and their variability to climate modes, Journ. of Climate, 2008, Vol. 21(12), pp. 3020-3039
The front positions derived from the altimeter+climatological data are available with the data download request form. For any other request, please use the contact form.
- The possibility of getting meanders in the front position : multiple latitude values can be associated with one longitude (Figure bellow).
- The Sea Level value associated with each front, due to the change of version of Sea Level data.

Dear user, please be aware that this is a research-grade product. Unexpected behaviour and/or values could be found. If this is the case please help us improve this product by providing us your feedback.
Thank you.
Cher utilisateur, ceci est un produit de qualité recherche, il n'est donc pas exclu de trouver des données aberrantes. Si cela se produisait, faîtes nous part de votre retour afin de nous aider à améliorer le produit.
Merci.
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