Antarctic polar front zone

The thermal structure across the antarctic polar front zne in the South Pacific is inspected. The structure is variable; however, it is often possible to identify some unifying pattern. A generalized thermal section can be constructed that contains all or most of the structural elements found by the particular bathythermograph sections. The basic components are as follows- the primary polar front zone is characterized by a cold water cell vertically elongated relative to other ocean features, which is isolated from the main mass of cold water further south. To the immediate south of the primary front is a warm water zone. The southerncomponent of the polar front zone is the secondary polar front zone. Here the subsurface temperature minimum (Tmin) that identifies the Antarctic Surface Water has a very variable structure. Occasional indications of vertical convection are found. South of the double polar front zone, the Antarctic Surface Water is found to lie uniformly over the upper Circumpolar Deep Water with little sign of instability.