The existing superficial oceanic currents of the Madeira Archipelago are integrated in the general circulation of the North Atlantics current system and are not created from the predominant winds of the Azores anticyclone.

The Eastern part of this circulation system is composed of four currents: The Azores Current, the Portugal Current, the Canary Current and the North Equatorial Current. The Azores Current represents a ramification that separates itself southward south of the North Atlantic current. The Portugal Current, which flows West of the Portuguese and Spanish coast as does the Canary Current, further south, is nothing more than the coastal fringe of the Azores Current, integrated in the general circulation that heads south and east from the North Atlantic (Hydrographical Institute, 1979).