Geostrophic transport and hydrographic measurements derived from a historical database (1900–1998) were used to study the spring–summer mean circulation in the upper layer south and west of Cape St. Vincent, Southwest (SW) Portugal. The larger-scale circulation scheme is forced by equatorward winds from May to September, when the Iberian coastal transition zone (CTZ) is dominated by a generalized upwelling of cold, low-salinity water. A partially separated surface jet intensified at the shelf break conveys ∼1 Sv of upwelled water equatorward parallel to the bathymetry, while offshore a poleward flow transports ∼0.4–0.6 Sv of upwelled water. Although alongshore transports dominate the circulation pattern of the upper layers, cross-shore transports are significant at the climatological scale. Anticyclonic circulation with an exchange of ∼0.5 Sv from the equatorward jet to the offshore poleward flow and the partial re-circulation further north, back into the equatorward flow are discussed. A coherent, cyclonic re-circulation pattern inshore of the upwelling jet is also speculated. From these results the shelf break is considered a climatological border at both sides of which two major re-circulation cells occur. The climatological equatorward flow has offshore protrusions, interpreted as recurrent episodes of major contortions of the upwelling flow. These features bring about considerable “cross-shelf flow” re-circulation reaching up to 50% of the main flow. The most significant exchanges are found to be associated with major changes of orientation of the coastline. Off Cape St. Vincent the upwelling front stretches to both west and south and contributes to the cross-shelf re-circulations. Additionally, convergence of the upwelling flow and a branch of the Azores current, with associated re-circulation is found diagonally from the cape. On the southern coast the upwelling jet is seen to meander offshore in the vicinity of Cape St. Maria. Individual synoptic cruise data showed agreement with the climatological circulation features. We conclude that these oceanographic features leave an imprint on the climatic circulation in spite of the “smoothing out” of recurrent events over the spring–summer period of the years of 1900–1998.

Bathymetric features determine the internal structure of the Mediterranean outflow plume west of Gibraltar.

More than 10 year of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler observations collected at the westernmost sill (Espartel sill) of the Strait of Gibraltar by a monitoring station have been carefully processed to provide the most updated estimation of the Mediterranean outflow. A comprehensive quality control of the factors affecting the uncertainty of the measurements has been carried out and great care has been paid to infer the current at the bottom layer, where direct observations are lacking. The mean outflow in the southern channel of the sill section has been estimated as −0.82 Sv (1 Sv = 1 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹), with an average contribution of the eddy fluxes of −0.04 Sv. This figure is an overestimation, as the mooring measurements, assumed valid for the whole section, ignore the lateral friction. On the other hand, it only gives the flow through the southern channel and disregards the fraction flowing through shallower northern part. Both drawbacks have been addressed by investigating the cross‐strait structure of the outflow from hindcasts produced by the MITgcm numerical model, run in a high‐resolution domain covering the Gulf of Cádiz and Alboran Sea basins. An overall rectifying factor of 1.039 was found satisfactory to correct the first estimate, so that the final mean outflow computed from this data set is −0.85 Sv, complemented with an uncertainty of ±0.03 Sv based on the interannual variability of the series. The temporal analysis of the series shows an outflow seasonality of around the 8% of the mean value, with maximum outflow in early spring.