Surface coastal currents off California are a good example of the complex variability in space and time of currents in an ocean basin eastern boundary. Conventional oceanographic measurements are unable to resolve these relatively small scale variations but by employing both satellite imagery and satellite altimetry we are able to resolve this complex structure and its variations in space and time. Moreover using historical satellite imagery we are able to extend this study back into the past. Our emphasis will be on resolving these variations and later studies will relate these variations to various forcing functions