DIRECT MEASUREMENTS OF WESTERN BOUNDARY CURRENTS OFF BRAZIL BETWEEN 20-DEGREES-S AND 28-DEGREES-S

Current measurements from three moored arrays on the Brazilian contine ntal slope between 20 degrees S and 28 degrees S are investigated for the existence and strength of western boundary currents from near the surface down to the North Atlantic Deep Water. The Brazil Current is f ound to deepen southward from 100 m to more than 670 m and to strength en its volume transport to 16.2 x 10(6) m(3)/s. Antarctic Intermediate Water is transported in a well-developed boundary current southward a t 28 degrees S and northward north of Cabo Frio (24 degrees S). This r esult supports earlier suggestions derived from the analysis of hydrog raphic data that Antarctic Intermediate Water enters the Brazil Basin from the east and bifurcates as it meets the continental break off Bra zil. North Atlantic Deep Water is transported southward in a weakly de veloped boundary current that leads to lower estimates of volume trans port than expected from earlier hydrographic data analysis.