Five-nearly-synoptic spatial oceanographic observations, taken from January, 1970 to February, 1971, in the region between Cape of São Tomé and Guanabara Bay, are used to describe the seasonal circulation and flow conditions of the Brazil Current, close to the continental slope. The relative geostrophic velocities were calculated over isanosteric surfaces, according to the method suggested by Montgomery (1937). The precision of the method has been analysed, on the basis of the propagation of the instrumental errors for temperature, salinity and depth to the specific volume anomaly and acceleration potential, leading to a precision of about ± 3,0 cm s-1 for the relative speed, and a¹ maximum of ± 2,5 Sv, for the volume transport through a transversal section. The surface geostrophic currents, computed with reference to the isanosteric surface of the 100 cl ton-1 , are generally stronger through the sections east of Cabo Frio, where they reach maximum values (~90 cm s-1 on the edge of the continental shelf during the summer, and values up to 86 cm s-1 occur in the winter further offshore, at distances from the coast higher than 140 km. The T-S diagrams show the details of the flow distributions on characteristic classes and the fact that 50% of the net flow transports the Tropical Water Mass, above the 220 cl ton-1 isanosteric surface. The variations of the total transport flow in the water column, from the surface to the reference isanosteric surface, were analysed to estimate the transport-per-unit-width.
Geostrophic currents; Geostrophic circulation; Geostrophic transport; Geostrophic velocity; Volume transport; T-S diagrams; Seasonal variations; Thermosteric anomalies; Continental shelf break; Oceanic Zone; Coastal zone; Brasil Current; Southern Brazil