Rip tides or Rip currents

• Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have embarked on a project to continuously monitor and issue operational forecast alerts of rip currents.
• They intend to do this through a coastal video surveillance system, which will also provide information on complex coastal and nearshore processes.
• A preliminary research study for rip tides was done at RK beach in Visakhapatnam, which is known for the highest recorded number of drownings.

ABOUT RIP TIDES

• A rip current, sometimes incorrectly called a rip tide, is a localized current that flows away from the shoreline toward the ocean, perpendicular or at an acute angle to the shoreline.
• It usually breaks up not far from shore and is generally not more than 25 meters (80 feet) wide.
• Rip currents typically reach speeds of 1 to 2 feet per second.
  • However, some rip currents have been measured at 8 feet per second.
• If wave activity is slight, several low rip currents can form, in various sizes and velocities.
  • But in heavier wave action, fewer, more concentrated rip currents can form.
• Rip currents are one of the most well-known coastal hazards on beaches around the world.
• A rip current cannot pull a person down and hold him/her under the water.
• It simply carries floating objects, including people, out to just beyond the zone of the breaking waves.
• A person caught in a rip can be swept away from shore very quickly.
• The best way to escape a rip current is by swimming parallel to the shore instead of towards it, since most rip currents are less than 80 feet wide.