Direct velocity observations were collected with a free-fall acoustic velocity profiler along an east-west section extending 65 km offshore of Abaco Island, the Bahamas (26.5 ¿N). The section, which includes five stations, was occupied 14 times between September 1984 and September 1987. The two inshore stations were located on the continental slope, and the three offshore stations were located over the abyssal plain (at depths approaching 4700 m). The average total section transport between the surface and 2500 m (the portion of the water column best sampled) was 10 Sv (1 Sv=106 m3/s) to the south. The range of transports is 40 Sv with maximum northward transport observed during April 1985 (5.3 Sv) and maximum southward transport observed during April 1986 (34.8 Sv). The average flow above 800--900 m is to the north at the four westernmost stations and is to the south below 800--900 m and over most of the easternmost station. The southward flow includes the Deep Western Boundary Current. Strong vertical shears extend to 1100 m.

An approximation for the upper layer (above 1100 m) baroclinic transport has a mean of 12.2 Sv to the north and a range of 15 Sv. Results from a two-layer and a one-and-a-half-layer wind-driven model are compared with the annual cycles of total and upper layer transport, as determined from the observations. The barotropic transport from the two-layer model has a range of the order of ¿10 Sv, with a winter maximum and fall minimum. The range of the baroclinic transport from the one-and-a-half-layer models is an order of magnitude smaller and of opposite sign. Although there are similarities between the observations and the results of both models, the small signal-to-noise ratio precludes definitive confirmation of the annual cycle. The situation east of the Bahamas, where the two models give very different predictions, is compared with the Straits of Florida, where both models predict an annual cycle similar to that observed for the total transport. The roles played by topography and local and remote wind forcing in producing these results are discussed. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989