This atlas, and the series of which it is a part, is computer generated and automatically plotted. It makes available to the user the most recent surface current data collected and will be updated whenever sufficient amounts of data are added to the data file. This and the other atlases are based on a vast quantity of data as compared to the previous manually compiled editions printed in the mid-thirties. The surface current information is based mainly on ship drift, which is the difference between the dead reckoning position and the position determined by any type of navigational fix. This difference describes the direction and speed of the current.