  We evaluate the influence of local resolution, eddy viscosity, coastline
structure, and boundary conditions on the numerical representation of boundary
currents in a finite element shallow-water model. The use of finite element
discretization methods offers a higher flexibility compared to finite
difference and finite volume methods, that are mainly used in previous
publications. This is true for the geometry of the coast lines and for the
realization of boundary conditions. For our investigations we simulate steady
separation of western boundary currents from idealized and realistic coast
lines. The use of grid refinement allows a detailed investigation of boundary
separation at reasonable numerical cost.
