Yearlong records of sea level, oceanic temperature, winds, and atmospheric pressure provide evidence of atmospherically induced subinertial frequency fluctuations in the Florida current. The dominant subinertial responses occurred at periods of 7--10 days in winter and 12--14 days in summer. Consistent with the theory of long stable continental shelf waves (CSW) in the Florida current, a sea level array indicated southward propagation of disturbances. The propagating disturbances has alongshore coherence scales of a few hundred kilometers and wavelengths of the order of 1000 km. The sea level and temperature fluctuations were strongly coupled, and they were coupled to both components of the wind stress. It is concluded that wind-forced southward propagating CSW's account for a significant fraction of the subinertial frequency fluctuations of the Florida current. |