What confusion can arise for ships making landfall on a coastline with higher inland mountains?

• A. They may be confused about their GPS coordinates.
• B. They are unaffected by inland terrain.
• C. Ships may be confused about their position in relation to actual landfall.
• D. They will see inland mountains in every radar image.

Answer: (C)

When tall inland mountains are present, radar returns from terrain can mislead your sense of where the shore actually is. The radar image often shows elevated features that extend inland or appear where the coastline should be, creating a mismatch between what you see on radar and what the chart shows. This makes it easy to misjudge how close you are to land or where the landfall point lies, so you can become uncertain about your position relative to the actual coast. That’s why the best choice is that ships may be confused about their position in relation to actual landfall.