Which mechanism influences the meandering patterns of geostrophic boundary currents along coastlines?

💡 Explanation

When a strong horizontal shear exists in a geostrophic boundary current, baroclinic instability occurs because small perturbations grow by converting potential energy into kinetic energy, causing large meanders. Therefore baroclinic instability causes meandering current patterns, rather than upwelling, Ekman transport, or tidal oscillations, which depend on different physical processes.

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