Abstract
The Southland Current is a northward flow of water along the south‐east coast of New Zealand. This current has been studied many times since the early 1960s, with particular emphasis on an associated narrow coastal band of warm, salty water of subtropical origin, separated from offshore cold, fresh Subantarctic Water (SAW) by the Southland Front. Previous works on the Southland Current state that it advects modified warm, salty Subtropical Water (STW). This work quantifies the relative proportions of SAW and STW within the current. The Southland Current has a mean transport of 8.3 Sv comprising c. 90% SAW and 10% STW. The mean properties advected result from the current extending offshore of the Southland Front: in fact the core of the current is offshore of the Southland Front.