Antarctic Anticyclone

a region of high atmospheric pressure over Antarctica, recorded on long-range mean charts of pressure distribution for all months of the year, as well as on almost all synoptic charts for individual days. Cyclones, which are formed in great numbers over the oceans of the southern hemisphere, travel from east to west around Antarctica but almost never reach the interior of the continent, over the surface of which the pressure is consistently high, with corresponding weather conditions—weak easterly winds, very low surface temperatures, clear skies, and little precipitation. However, even at a low altitude over the surface of the interior of the continent, the anticyclone conditions are replaced by the circumpolar depression (a region of low pressure), causing a general transfer of air from west to east. Anticyclones over Antarctica may in some cases extend to extremely high altitudes.