A programme to study shelf processes that took place north of San Francisco during the summers of 1981–1982. The programme employed drifters, hydrographic measurements, Doppler–acoustic surveys, wind measurements, and remote sensing to study a prominent, persistent filament near Point Arena. It was notable for the first integrated use of remote sensing for a study of this magnitude, the first coastal use of the ADCP, and the introduction of a new generation of high quality near–surface drifters. It led to a clear understanding of regional scale wind driving and provided a moored array data set still uses as the standard to test models.