Abstract. The eect of viscosity, non linearities, incident wave period and realistic eastern coastline geometry on energy¯uxes are investigated using a shallow water model with a spatial resolution of 1/4 degree in both meridional and zonal directions. Equatorial and mid-latitude responses are considered. It is found that (1) the in¯uence of the coastline geometry and the incident wave period is more important for the westward energy¯ux than for the poleward¯ux, and (2) the eect of the inclination of the eastern ocean boundary on the poleward energy¯ux, for the Paci®c and Atlantic Oceans, decline as the period of the incident wave increases. Furthermore, the model simulations suggest that the poleward energy¯uxes from meridional boundaries give plausible results for motions of seasonal and annual periods. For comparatively shorter periods, a realistic coastline geometry has to be included for more accurate results. It is recommended that any numerical model involving the re¯ection of baroclinic Rossby waves (of intraseasonal, seasonal or annual periods) on the eastern Paci®c or Atlantic Oceans, should consider the eect of the coastline geometry in order to improve the accuracy of the results.