Outer areas of the South American, New Zealand, and Tasmanian shelves, and scattered temperate banks.
Temperate waters
Broad distribution around the South American, New Zealand, Tasmanian, and Crozet shelves. Shallow, ice-free, and with warm SST (~1020°C).
Deep oceanic waters, bounded approximately on the north by the Sub-Antarctic Front.
Shallow (~2001000 m) parts of the northern Kerguelen, Crozet, and South Georgia plateau areas, Conrad Rise.
Deeper (~5002000 m) parts of the same plateaus as 13, also Bouvetøya and the northern tip of the southern Kerguelen plateau.
Deep oceanic waters, encompassing approximately the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front and the Polar Front.
Polynyas on the continental shelf, as well as areas off the Danco Coast of the Peninsula and the South Orkney Islands, and part of Banzare Bank. Low ice cover (~020%) and cold sea surface temperatures (<2°C).
Sea ice zone. Clusters 811 form an approximately latitudinal, deep water continuum of increasing ice cover and decreasing SST. The northernmost limit (of cluster 10) is generally just south of the mean maximum winter sea ice extent.
Moderate depth (~10002500 m) and sea ice cover (~40%). Restricted to parts of the southern Scotia Arc, and isolated pockets north of the Balleny Islands and off the West Ice Shelf.
Polynya margins on the continental shelf, the South Orkneys plateau, and areas off Adelaide and Biscoe Island in the West Antarctic Peninsula. Moderately shallow (to ~1000 m) with ice cover ~2050% and SST <2°C.
Moderate depths (~2001000 m) and ice cover (~5075%). Many areas correspond to general regions around polynyas (see e.g. Arrigo & van Dijken 2003). Also areas of the southern Scotia Arc.
Shallow shelf areas with ~2560% ice cover. Restricted distribution, generally limited to East Antarctica.
Shelf areas with almost perennial ice cover (~75100%).
Shallow areas with high ice cover (~7595%). Patchy distribution scattered around the continental shelf.
Similar to 7, but shallower and with lower ice cover. Widely but sparsely distributed around the continental shelf.