CURRENT-METER OBSERVATIONS FROM THE LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND SHELVESAND COMPARISONS WITH BAROTROPIC MODEL PREDICTIONS AND IIP SURFACE CURRENTS

Recent current measurements from the southern Labrador and northeaster n Newfoundland shelves confirm the presence of inshore and offshore br anches of the Labrador Current with high mean currents and low standar d deviations. At mid-shelf, weaker and more variable currents occur ov er the banks, and cross-shelf flows are found to be associated with th e shelf topography. An annual cycle of the inshore branch, in phase wi th wind forcing, is significant on the NE Newfoundland Shelf but not d etectable on Hamilton Bank. The phase of the annual cycle in the offsh ore branch is consistent with buoyancy, not wind forcing. The observat ions compare reasonably well with results from a barotropic model for the region and the International Ice Patrol (IIP) surface current map. Differences occur particularly in regions of high bathymetric curvatu re or an ill-defined shelf break. The model location of the Labrador C urrent lies inshore of that indicated by the data, suggesting the need for better definition of the northern inflow boundary condition and t he inclusion of baroclinicity. The IIP surface current map agrees well with observations offshore, but shows an unrealistic, broad inshore b ranch, especially on the Grand Bank. These differences have important implications for the drift models.