During seven summer Brazilian expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula area the author used radio weather transmissions to collect data for synoptic analysis and operational weather forecasting. A particularly intensive effort aboard Barão de Teffé in 1989–90 yielded detailed information on frequencies, schedules, procedures and contents, which should be useful to radio-operators, meteorologists, and other Antarctic workers since official publications listing Antarctic radio transmissions are out-dated or incomplete. Radiotelegraph broadcasts particularly valuable to mariners, which may replace or complement facsimile transmissions, are made by Valparaiso, Punta Arenas, and Buenos Aires. Because of unreliable reception of regular fax and teletype broadcasts, synoptic reports were copied directly by monitoring voice and Morse point-to-point circuits, gaining time crucial to operational decisions. Especially useful sources of reports were the Frei, Marambio, and Faraday collections, and the USSR radiotelegraph communications carrying land and ship reports for all sectors of Antarctica and southern hemisphere oceans. Other signals, eg from Chilean lighthouses, ships of opportunity, and aircraft have become useful sources of meteorological information, especially for Drake Passage since Chile has suspended broadcasts, adversely affecting weather forecasting in the area. An insight into weather conditions on the Antarctic Plateau, as well as a sense of history in the making, were gained by monitoring Adventure Network International's radio frequencies.

I refer to the interesting paper by Summerhayes and Beeching entitled ‘Hitler's Antarctic base: the myth and the reality’ published in the January 2007 issue of Polar Record (Summerhayes and Beeching 2007). One might consider that a detailed examination of such obviously faked stories of Nazi activities in Antarctica is an uneconomical use of time and effort by such distinguished researchers were it not for the widespread coverage such fancy and misleading tales have gained in recent years. More importantly perhaps, the article contributes new and more complete information on lesser known aspects of Antarctic history, besides the Schwabenland expedition itself. These include Operation Tabarin (responsible for the first effective permanent occupation of the continent), U-boat activity in the South Atlantic, Operation Highjump, and the Argus nuclear explosions. All very interesting subjects indeed and well worth writing and reading about.

The South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) is an elongated and persistent band of convection which in the summer season and fairly frequently extends itself from the Amazon to the ocean offshore the Brazilian coasts, playing a significant role in the country´s rainfall regime. Together with its twins in the Pacific and Indian, it makes up a new category of large-scale meteorological organisms, identified from the 1970s through the analysis of satellite observations. The explanation for the phenomenon is still a challenge to meteorology and climatology; essentially, it results from an intense interaction between tropical and mid-latitude systems. In this paper, we review a part of the subject´s history, including, besides Brazilian researchers´s contributions, the providential Japanese studies comparing the SACZ with the Baiu, and present brief descriptions of SACZ events in Brazil. As a complement, we report ourselves to two events of destructive intense precipitation, of frontal nature, in São Paulo state, to be compared to SACZ action.