DAVIDSON CUREIEM' (Winter Coastal Countercurrent) 



The Davidson Ciirrent is not a permanent ocean c"urrent but 

 rather a seasonal countercurrent that sets northward at all depths 

 close to the Pacific coast of the United States north of 32 °N. 

 Available data indicate that this flow should be more accurately 

 referred to simply as the Winter Coastal Counter current; it is a 

 poorly defined and variable flow dependent mainly upon the 

 Influence of the wind. 



Figure 7 shows the boundary within which the prevailing 

 northward flow most frequently occurs; it becomes best established 

 In Jamaaiy. Table k Indicates the variability of flow by showing 

 the monthly percent frequency of observations of speed and direction. 

 The Davidson C\arrent is interrupted by the prevailing south flow of 

 the California Cirrrent from March through the first half of October. 



The southern part of the Davidson Current, region B, is more 

 variable than the northern part; although the prevailing flow is 

 northward during winter, the data show that sets in the opposite 

 direction occur frequently in January and February. During July, 

 \inder the influence of the California Current, the southward flow 

 is most constant although the frequency is only 25 percent compared 

 to less than 13 percent in any of the other seven directions. Calms 

 average 8 percent and are twice those in region A, where the flow is 

 more constant. 



In region A the current turns from south to north during 

 October, when considerable variability occurs; the northward set 

 increases in constancy through Janiiary, when the frequency of 

 southward sets is about 17 percent. The current appears to set 



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