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The recent NCEP–Department of Energy (DOE) Reanalysis-2 update of the original NCEP–NCAR dataset provides what is arguably the highest quality analyses spanning two decades available for the high southern latitudes. It therefore offers an excellent starting point from which to assemble a modern, comprehensive, and reliable picture of synoptic activity in the subantarctic region. This set, covering the “modern satellite” era from January 1979 to February 2000, is used herein. In addition, the exploration in this study has been conducted with sophisticated feature-tracking and trajectory analysis software.

It is shown that the high southern latitude cyclone system density is greatest in the Indian Ocean and to the south of Australia near, or to the south of, 60°S. The numbers in winter exceed those in summer, except over a few, but important, regions such as the Bellingshausen Sea. The Antarctic coastal …