In the framework of the CLIMA project high-resolution XBT sections were obtain by the R/V Italica during its routes from New Zealand to the Ross Sea and return. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) extends unbroken around Antarctica and is the primary means by which water, heat and other properties are exchanged between the ocean basins in the Southern Ocean. As these exchanges are an important control on mean global climate, observations are essential to describe and understand the physical processes which are responsible for the variability of the ACC. Most of the flow of the ACC is concentrated in a number of fronts which separate different water masses or dynamical regimes. The main fronts in the Pacific sector are the SubTropical Front (STF) the SubAntarctic Front (SAF), the Polar Front (PF), and Southern ACC Front (sACCf). There are two branches of the SAF in this sector of the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand and also observed south of Tasmania. The northern branch (NSAF) is associated with a maximum temperature gradient in the temperature range from 4°–7°C at 300 m, while the southern branch is characterized by a thermal gradient between 3°C and 4°C.