We present a quantitative analysis of properties of the eddy field associated with the shelfbreak front south of New England off the U.S. east coast. We employ records from current meters, drifting buoys, and hydrography obtained during June 1984. Mean currents during the study period showed the across-shelf cyclonic shear in the alongshelf velocity to be similar to that found in earilier studies when eddies were probably absent most of the time. Our mean across-shelf currents, however, differend from eariler findings and showed a marked divergence of the across-shelf flow for the upper 65 m of water that implied high rates of upwelling from beneath. This across-shelf divergence was also consistent with observed spreading of surface frontal isotherms in the study area. Records from both current meters and drifting buoys enabled us to compute both the lagged Eulerian and Lagrangian velocity autocorrelations. The former showed a decorrelation time of about 4 days and lacked any negative lobe, but the latter showed a strong negative lobe. Using a simple model for a band-limited process in frequency, we inferred a rotational period for fluid particles in trajectories with eddies of 4 days and a Lagrangian decorrelation time of 2.6 days, comparable to the Eulerian time. The corresponding estimate of horizontal diffusivity was zero. These results were consistent with the generation close upstream of discrete, coherent vortices with dominantly deterministic character. We could find no evidence that across-shelf exchange of heat or salt by the eddies was enhanced above estimates of climatic mean exchange, despite having a detailed alongshelf hydrographic transect across the strongest eddy features that we found. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989