Enumerations of plane meanders

A closed plane meander of order n is a closed self-avoiding loop intersecting an infinite line 2n times. Meanders are considered distinct up to any smooth deformation leaving the line fixed. We have developed an improved algorithm, based on transfer matrix methods, for the enumeration of plane meanders. This allows us to calculate the number of closed meanders up to n=24. The algorithm is easily modified to enumerate various systems of closed meanders, semi-meanders or open meanders.