Unfortunately an in-depth critical quantitative comparison of observed and predicted currents is 

 not possible due to a lack of detailed current measurements in the area. The calculated geos- 

 trophic velocities do, however, conform with the accepted general circulation scheme for the area 

 as presented for example in Pine and SteUar (1977). This scheme presents the Southern California 

 Bight as being dominated by a cyclonic gyre, with the southeastwardly flowing California Current 

 to its west, the northwestwardly flowing Davidson Current to its east. The speeds in the gyre are 

 known to be seasonally dependent. On the west the current speeds increase during the spring and 

 early summer as the California Current tends to move eastward during this period. The Davidson 

 Current is an undercurrent during this time period with little surface manifestation. During the 

 fall and winter the Davidson Current surfaces and the Cahfornia moves westward with a subse- 

 quent increase in the current speed on the eastern side of the gyre and a decrease of those on the 

 west. While it is realized that rigorous comparisons are not possible without precise measurements, 

 the above described scheme is well supported qualitatively in the twelve chartlets in Figures 2-13. 

 CONCLUSIONS 



A method has been developed which uses two-dimensional least-squares spline fits of spatially 

 and temporally random dynamic depth anomaly data to determine average geostrophic currents. 

 The method has successfully been applied to quantify the currents in the Southern Cahfornia 

 Bight. It can be assumed that it is possible to apply this method to other areas and thus begin to 

 utilize the vast amounts of data in the NODC inventory. 



