A climatology of Southern Hemisphere anticyclones

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 thre..