Profiles of light transmission, temperature and salinity and analyses of suspended matter samples acquired along the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment Central line in June 1981 and April--May 1982 suggest that the development of subsurface turbid plumes and temperature inversions may be associated with the relaxation of winds favorable for upwelling. Wind relaxations and reversals appear to trigger flow field adjustments characterized by sinking of previously upwelled water over the inner and middle shelf and the rapid growth of a barotropic poleward current over the inner shelf. Complexities in the cross-shelf current structure during relaxation may be associated with the formation of the subsurface layers of plankton-rich water and the small temperature anomalies. Renewed upwelling produces a relatively simple, three-layer distribution of suspended particles and the elimination of temperature inversions. ¿American Geophysical Union 1987