The ecology of the Subantarctic islands of New Zealand: The climate of the Auckland Islands, Campbell Island and Macquarie Island

[First paragraphs...]
The Subantarctic islands to the south of New Zealand lie in a narrow belt of latitudes (48¡S.-55¡S.) within a region of strong and persistent westerly winds. They are north of the latitudes usually traversed by the great cyclonic storms of the southern oceans and south of the paths usually taken by the travelling anticyclones of the subtropical latitudes. The southernmost island, Macquarie I., lies very near the Antarctic Convergence, the relatively sharp boundary between the cold antarctic waters and the warmer subantarctic waters. The northernmost group, the Bounty Is., lies in about the same latitude as the south of New Zealand.
Systematic meteorological observations have been made on the Auckland Is., Campbell I., and Macquarie I., which are all on the whole cloudy, bleak and wind-swept but with a slight amelioration of climate on the Auckland Is. The rainfall is moderate but spread over more than 300 days a year. A description of the physical features of Auckland Is. and Campbell I. was given by Falla (1947) and of Macquarie I. by Mawson (1915).