THE SOUTH ATLANTIC HOSTS THE LARGEST CHLOROPHYLL-A BLOOMS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN DOMINANCE LIKELY ASSOCIATED WITH OFF-SHELF FLOWS FROM THE PATAGONIAN REGION. WE ARGUE THAT TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE DEEP OCEAN THE OFF-SHELF FLOWS FROM PATAGONIA MUST BE LARGE AND EXHIBIT A HIGH NUTRIENT CONTENT. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CHARACTERIZE THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES UNDERLYING THE HIGH FERTILITY AND HIGH VOLUME TRANSPORT OF PATAGONIA S OUTFLOWS. WE PROPOSE THAT THE HIGH NUTRIENT CONTENT OF THE PATAGONIA SHELF OUTFLOWS ARE SUSTAINED BY A UNIQUE SHELFBREAK UPWELLING SYSTEM WHICH EXTENDS FROM THE DRAKE PASSAGE TO THE BRAZIL/MALVINAS CONFLUENCE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THIS SYSTEM IS COMPOSED OF THREE LOCALIZED UPWELLING CENTERS: THE FIRST EXTENDING ALONG THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE PATAGONIAN SHELFBREAK FROM 48?S TO THE BRAZIL/MALVINAS CONFLUENCE; THE SECOND CENTERED ON THE BURDWOOD BANK A RELATIVELY SHALLOW BANK LOCATED IN THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE DRAKE PASSAGE; AND THE THIRD CENTERED ON THE MALVINAS (FALKLAND) ISLANDS. WE ALSO HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE LARGE OFF-SHELF FLOWS FROM PATAGONIA ARE DRIVEN BY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ANTARCTIC CIRCUMPOLAR CURRENT AND THE BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY IN THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE DRAKE PASSAGE. TO ADDRESS THESE HYPOTHESES WE PROPOSE AN ANALYSIS OF SATELLITE DATA AND PROCESS-ORIENTED NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS. THE SATELLITE DATA ANALYSES CONTINUE OUR PROGRESS IN USING RADAR SATELLITE DATA (ALTIMETER AND SCATTEROMETER) OVER COASTAL SHELF REGIONS AND IN COMBINING DATA FROM MULTIPLE TYPES OF SENSORS (MICROWAVE IR AND VISIBLE) TO EXAMINE COASTAL OCEAN PROCESSES. THE MODELING COMPONENT OF THIS PROPOSAL CONTINUES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH RESOLUTION NESTED MODEL IMPLEMENTED DURING A PREVIOUS NASA/AQUARIUS PROJECT. THE COMPLEMENTARY EXAMINATION OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE PATAGONIAN REGION WITH BOTH REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS AND REALISTIC HIGH-RESOLUTION MODELS INCREASES OUR CONFIDENCE IN THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE RESULTS ADVANCING BOTH REMOTE SENSING AND MODEL APPLICATIONS. USE OF THESE TOOLS IN THE SW ATLANTIC OCEAN IS AN EFFICIENT WAY TO ILLUMINATE PHYSICAL PROCESSES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO THE CLIMATE AND GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM IN A REGION THAT IS DIFFICULT TO STUDY BY TRADITIONAL SHIP-BASED STUDIES.