In the high southern latitudes small scale cyclones, known as mesoscale cyclones, with a horizontal scale of up to 2000km in diameter and a short lifetime of between 3 hours and 3 days are observed to occur frequently. These small scale storms vary in their intensity from a light breeze to hurricane strength winds. They are associated with heavy precipitation and can cause severe damage at research stations on the Antarctic continent and can disrupt shipping and aircraft operations in the Southern Ocean region. The study of Southern Ocean cyclones is of great importance to the safety and...