Abstract:
Quasi-synoptic surveys of the European continental shelf edge have been conducted since the spring of 1994 by participants in the Shelf Edge Fisheries Oceanography Study
(SEFOS). The purpose of the surveys is primarily to address questions concerning the
eastern boundary current raised by fishery biologists, as the eastern boundary or slope
current is intimately involved in the life history of many important European commercial
fish species, such as mackerel, horse mackerel, blue whiting and hake. In all 21 sections
were defined crossing the shelf edge from Portugal to Norway. The majority of these were
occupied by a nwnber of European laboratories behveen March and June 1994. Sections
across the shelf edge have been used to examine the location and characteristics of the
current in the different observational regions. Diagrams of t-S have been employed to
describe the water masses involved in the slope current. Ve rtical and horizontal sections
a long the, shelf have been constructed from the different across·shelf sections in order to examine the along-shelf variation of processes such as vertical and horizontal mixing in the area of the current. While preliminary data are presented, data collection continues
and final analysis has not yet been completed
