Rip Current

rip current, also called riptide, narrow jetlike stream of water that flows sporadically seaward for several minutes, in a direction normal or nearly normal to a beach. Such currents are probably the cause of most ocean bathing accidents blamed on undertow. The term riptide is often used but is a misnomer, the currents being related in no way to tides.

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Rip currents may have velocities as great as 1 metre per second (3.3 feet per second, or 2 knots) and extend offshore from 60 to 760 metres (200 to 2,500 feet). The energies of the currents may be sufficient to erode shallow channels through offshore bars, and the water may be discoloured by suspended sand. Swimmers caught in a rip current should not attempt to swim shoreward directly against the current. Instead, it is best to swim a short distance parallel to the beach to emerge from the rip current before returning to shore.

Rip currents form at long coasts that are approached by wave trains oriented parallel or nearly parallel to the shoreline. In shallow water the orbital motion in normal waves and swell displaces the water particles small distances shoreward with each passing wave. This mass transport is increased with increasing wave size, and during periods of large waves water builds up at the beach and cannot escape as longshore currents, which require oblique wave approach. The buildup of water continues until some of the water can escape by surging for several minutes through a low point in a breaker.