The dataset consists of eastward and northward baroclinic and barotropic current vectors. The dataset is a gridded dataset covering the entire Northwest European continental shelf, extending out into the Atlantic Ocean and includes 40 depth layers. The grid resolution varies from 7.8 km to 14.2 km along the longitudinal axis and is equal to 12.3 km on the latitudinal axis. The data are daily mean averages, calculated by averaging over a 25 hour tidal cycle, and cover the period from 01 January 1964 to 31 December 2004. They were produced during a study looking at mult-decadal variability and trends in temperature of the Northwest European continental shelf. The dataset was generated by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System (POLCOMS) numerical model run by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Liverpool as part of Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Capability (NC) funding. The model simulations were run on the HECTOR supercomputer managed by the University of Edinburgh. The dataset consists of 41 data files in Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant NetCDF format.