Position of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current fronts
Weekly 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). The mean and time-varying positions of the main Southern Ocean polar fronts are calculated from the Copernicus Absolute Dynamic Topography data: the global 0.125° x 0.125° daily product (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00148) 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). The original technique, developed by Sallée et al. (2008), assumes that iso-contours of satellite absolute dynamic topography (ADT) can be proxies for the traditional sub-surface hydrographic definition of the main Southern Ocean fronts. The technique identifies an ADT contour that coincides with a maximum sea surface height gradient. This version includes updates with the following definitions :
- Polar Front (PF) is associated with the -0.30 m ADT contour;
- Southern (main) branch of the Subantarctic Front (SAF) with the -0.10 m ADT contour;
- Northern branch of the Subantarctic Front (SAF-N) with the 0 m ADT contour.
The product is an experimental product.
Data and resources
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HTML Open
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Plus d'information sur AVISOHTML Open
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Manuel utilisateurPDF Open
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THREDDSHTML Open
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NorthernSubantarcticFrontWMS Open
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PolarFrontWMS Open
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SAF position computed from Copernicus global ADTWMS Open
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Sallée, J. B., K. Speer, and R. Morrow, 2008: Response of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to Atmospheric Variability. J. Climate, 21, 3020–3039HTML Open
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Auger, M. Etude de la variabilité de l’océan Austral à partir de 25 ans de mesures SURVOSTRAL. Masters Report, University Toulouse III, 2018HTML Open
Additional information
| Date (publication) | 2023-03-14 |
|---|---|
| Status | onGoing |
| Update frequency | asNeeded |
| Metadata language | fr |
| License | None |
| Source metadata | ISO 19115 XML |
| Last updated | 2026-11-04 |
| Created | 2026-11-04 |
| API | package_show |