On the fluctuations and vertical structure of the shelf circulation off Walvis Bay, Namibia

The long shelf circulation consisted in the surface mixed layer of an equatorward coastal jet driven by the local meridional wind stress and an almost barotropic poleward counter current appearing partly as free Kelvin wave emanating from the Angola-Benguela front and as coastal counter current forced by the local negative curl of the wind stress. The longshore current controlled the fraction of the SACW on the shelf water mass, which increased continuously between austral summer and fall.