Near-inertial motion on the shelf-slope front off northeast Spain was monitored using surface drifters and moored current meters. On the shelf, strong inertial currents were generated by a wind burst. The inertial current amplitude was about 70 cm/s at the surface, 30 cm/s at the base of the mixed layer, and 10 cm/s in the interior. The observed near-inertial frequency on the shelf was about 10% lower than the local inertial frequency, suggesting that the near-inertial motion was embedded in region of strong anticyclonic shear. Also, the phase of near-inertial motion increased through the water column, indicating that the energy propagation was downward. By contrast, the surface inertial currents were only about 10 cm/s in the center of the shelf-slope front. Indirect evidence suggests that the observed small surface inertial currents were the result of rapid downward transfer of near-inertial energy in the front. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1992