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Boundaries of the Southern Ocean fronts

The dataset is a line shape file which describes the Southern Ocean fronts whose position come from different sources: Subantarctic Front - Orsi et al (1995). Polar Front - Moore et al (1999). Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front - an updated version of Orsi et al (1995) and Southern Boundary of the ACC - Orsi et al (1995). The extent of the file covers the entire southern ocean (hence it is not limited to the South Atlantic).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated December 21, 2020, 10:07 (PST)
Created January 30, 2020, 05:23 (PST)
Region Falkland Islands
Language eng
Topic Category oceans
Temporal Extent Start 1995-01-01
Temporal Extent End 2002-12-31
Dataset Reference Date 2002
Lineage The dataset is a compilation of data from various sources. Original data for the Polar and the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front come from the British Antarctic Survey data portal (ftp://ftp.nerc-bas.ac.uk/seth/moore99pf_pc.txt and ftp://ftp.nerc-bas.ac.uk/seth/saccf_orsiandthorpe_pc.txt). The original text files were saved as csv and then imported in QGIS and saved as shape files. In order to create a line from the point, we used the point 2 one plugin and it was necessary to add two fields to the attribute table. The line obtained from the polar front points needed a further smoothing and the v.generalised tool of GRASS was applied. Snake was the method that performed best (2 was the parameter used for the snake). The other two fronts were obtained from Orsi et al (1995) https://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/AADC_southern_ocean_fronts.html
West Longitude -179.999
South Latitude -70.459
East Longitude 179.999
North Latitude -30.4
Spatial Reference System WGS84
Responsible Organisation Name Hidden (personal data protection)
Contact Mail Address Hidden (personal data protection)
Responsible Party Role Hidden (personal data protection)
Access Limitations Open access
Use Constraints Open, but copyright and/or Intellectual Property Rights apply
Resource Reference Cite data source as: Orsi, A. H., T. Whitworth III and W. D. Nowlin, Jr. (1995). On the meridional extent and fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, Deep-Sea Research I, 42, 641-673.; Thorpe, S.E., Heywood, K.J., Brandon, M.A. & Stevens, D.P. (2002) Variability of the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front north of South Georgia. Journal of Marine Systems, 37: 87--105.; Moore, J.K., Abbott, M.R., Richman, J.G (1999) Location and dynamics of the Antarctic Polar Front from satellite sea surface temperature data. J. Geophys. Res., 104(C2), 3059--3073
Data Format csv, shape
Update Frequency unknown
Accuracy unknown
Resource Type Dataset
Original Title Hidden (internal use only)
Metadata Date 2017-10-18
Metadata Point of Contact datamanager@saeri.ac.fk
Contact Consent Contact details hidden
Unique Resource ID FK-BAS-428

Dataset extent

Map Data by OpenStreetMap