Buoyant surface discharge into an ambient body of water is studied two-dimensionally by using the full Navier-Stokes and diffusion equations. The study extends an earlier paper by the authors to include the effects of the earth's rotation and ambient stratification. It is found that for low Rossby numbers, quasi-geostrophic balance is achieved in time ?10/F. The deflection, due to the Coriolis effect, of the forward motion of the buoyancy-driven current to the along-front direction decreases the forward speed of the front during the passage toward steady state. When the steady state is achieved, the front becomes stationary in relation to the ambient fluid ahead of it. The structure of the front in the steady state now includes a strong baroclinic along-front jet and surface convergence and downswelling at the front. The vorticity in the frontal region is shown to be in thermal wind balance except near the free surface where the diffusional effect becomes dominant. A comparison with field data is given. It is also found that front progression, when it occurs, is an efficient mechanism for the generation of internal waves at the thermocline. The effect of wind is also briefly explored.