One annual cycle of upper ocean variability is illustrated by imaging the temperature field and superimposing the vertical coordinate interfaces and the mixed layer base (thick line). The annual cycle at point EBC represents variability in the eastern boundary current off northwest Africa. In a narrow zone off NW Africa, the relatively warm nearsurface layer is much thinner in the MICOM mode simulation than in the two hybrid coordinate simulations. The annual cycle of mixed layer temperature is much larger in the MICOM mode simulation,