Rip Current Secrets Revealed

Reported August 2006

NEWARK, Del. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Each year, an estimated 100 people drown in ocean rip currents. A strong current can sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea. Researchers are now making waves studying rip currents, revealing the life-saving information you need to know about these dangerous ocean currents.

There's something lurking in the ocean -- creating panic in even the best swimmers!

"It came really quick, like we went under a wave, and then the next thing we know it was just, like, pulling us out," says 18-year old Phoebe Brown. Not a shark, it's a rip current. And it can drag unsuspecting swimmers out to sea, up to eight feet per second.

Rip currents form at breaks in sandbars hidden underwater, creating a strong channel of water that pulls anything in its path far away from shore. Traditionally, oceanographers believed rip currents had a steady, uniform course. Now, new research shows the flow of water moves in an erratic pattern.

Oceanographer James Kirby, Jr, Ph.D., says, "Flow patterns get very, very complicated and very, very unpredictable, and we're trying to come to an understanding of what causes all that complication."

In a study at the University of Delaware in Newark, Kirby added colored dye to a wave pool generating rip currents. The dye's course is recorded as it moves through the current. The dye's movement shows an irregular rip current pattern -- making it more difficult to escape.

"It's very difficult for a swimmer once he's actually caught in the flow even to establish a sense of orientation and decide which way to swim," Kirby tells Ivanhoe. He also says some rip currents can last for weeks and even months at a time, in the same location.

To avoid unpredictable rip currents, keep an eye out for signs of one, like broken wave patterns and discolored water. If you end up caught in a rip current...

"Number one is don't panic," says Jesse Steele, a lifeguard at Bethany Beach in Delaware. "Swim parallel to shore."

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Jim Kirby Jr., Ph.D.
Civil and Environmental Engineer
University of Delaware
(302) 831-2438
kirby@udel.edu

American Geophysical Union
Washington, DC 20009-1277
(800) 966-2481
http://www.agu.org

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