Identification

Title

Temporal variability in the Antarctic Polar Front (2002-2014)

Abstract

We investigate intraannual to interannual variability in the Antarctic Polar Front (PF) using weekly PF realizations spanning 2002-2014 (found at doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.855640). While several PF studies have used gradient maxima in sea surface temperature (SST) or height to define its location, results from this study are based on a PF defined using SST measurements that avoid cloud contamination and the influence of steric sea level change. With a few regional exceptions, we find that the latitudinal position of the PF does not vary seasonally, yet its temperature exhibits a clear seasonal cycle. Consistent with previous studies, the position and intensity of the PF is largely influenced by bathymetry; generally, over steep topography, we find that the front intensifies and interannual variability in its position is low. We also investigate drivers of PF variability in the context of large-scale climate variability on various spatial and temporal scales, but find that the major modes of Southern Hemisphere climate variability explain only a tiny fraction of the interannual PF variance. Over the study time period, the PF intensifies at nearly all longitudes while exhibiting no discernible meridional displacement in its zonal mean path.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7vm4f00

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-10-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact