New Way to Beat Rip Currents: Tread Water

By John Tierney

Dr. MacMahan, an oceanography professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., found that the conventional image of a rip current is inaccurate - that it's actually not a long plume of fast-moving water running out to sea. Instead, rip currents more closely resemble whirlpools, with strong, persistent eddies that circulate throughout the surf zone, Dr. MacMahan reports in an article to be published in Marine Geology.

OTHER LINKS

Lagrangian Rip Current Field Observations: Swim Parallel?
Jamie MacMahan, Jenna Brown, Ad Reniers, Ed Thornton, and Tim Stanton

Surf zone retention in rip current systems and implications for beach safety: a laboratory experiment
Castelle B.1,*, Michallet H.2, Marieu V.1, Bonneton P.1, Dubardier J.1 and Leckler F.1

Rip Currents and Beach Safety Education
By John Fletemeyer and Stephen Leatherman Laboratory for Coastal Research Florida International University Miami, Florida 33199

An Overview of Rip Current Understanding
Bob Dean University of Florida

Eulerian Rip Current Field Observations: Temporal Modulations
Jenna Brown, Jamie MacMahan, Ad Reniers, Ed Thornton, and Tim Stanton

Improving beach safety: The Science of the Surf research project
Ann Williamson Julie Hatfield, Shauna Sherker, Rob Brander, Andrew Hayen

FORMATION AND PERSISTENCE OF RIP CURRENTS EXAMINED WITH A COASTAL ENGINEERING NUMERICAL MODEL, THE COASTAL MODELING SYSTEM (CMS)
Tanya M. Beck and Nicholas C. Kraus