On the basis of data of drifting bottles’ tracks and the current measured in anchored stations, as well as temperature and salinityobserved in cruise investigations and coastal stations, ADCP current data and AVHRR surface sea temperature (SST) data on thewestern coast of Guangdong, synthetic results of analysis showed that the coastal currents in the west of the mouth of the ZhujiangRiver were mainly westward in summer, which constituted the north branch of cyclonic gyre in the east of the Qiongzhou Straits. Partof its water flowed westward into the Beibu Gulf through the Qiongzhou Straits. The coastal current pattern was not identical with thetraditional current system which flowed westward in the Qiongzhou Straits in winter and eastward in summer. The summertime’ scoastal current was always westward, maybe temporarily turning northeast only when the southwest windwas strong. The importantcharacteristics of coastal current on the western coast of Guangdong, in the Qiongzhou Straits and in the north of the Beibu Gulf wereanalyzed and their mechanisms also were explained.
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