A rip current, often simply called a rip (or misleadingly a rip tide), is a specific kind of water current that

can occur near beaches with breaking waves. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water
which moves directly away from the shore, cutting through the lines of breaking waves like a river
running out to sea. The current in a rip is strongest and fastest next to the surface of the water.[1]

Rip currents can be hazardous to people in the water. Swimmers who are caught in a rip current and
who do not understand what is happening, or who may not have the necessary water skills, may panic,
or they may exhaust themselves by trying to swim directly against the flow of water. Because of these
factors, rip currents are the leading cause of rescues by lifeguards at beaches, and in the United States,
they are the cause of an average of 46 deaths by drowning per year.

A rip current is not the same thing as undertow, although some people use the term incorrectly when
they are talking about a rip current. Contrary to popular belief, neither rip nor undertow can pull a
person down and hold them under the water. A rip simply carries floating objects, including people, out
to just beyond the zone of the breaking waves, at which point the current dissipates and releases
everything it is carrying.

Causes and occurrence

A rip current forms because wind and breaking waves push surface water towards the land, and this
causes a slight rise in the water level along the shore. This excess water will tend to flow back to the
open water via the route of least resistance. When there is a local area which is slightly deeper, or a
break in an offshore sand bar or reef, this can allow water to flow offshore more easily, and this will
initiate a rip current through that gap.

Water that has been pushed up near the beach flows along the shore towards the outgoing rip as
"feeder currents", and then the excess water flows out at a right angle to the beach, in a tight current
called the "neck" of the rip. The "neck" is where the flow is most rapid. When the water in the rip
current reaches outside of the lines of breaking waves, the flow disperses sideways, loses power, and
dissipates in what is known as the "head" of the rip.

Rip currents can form by the coasts of oceans, seas, and large lakes, whenever there are waves of
sufficient energy. Rip currents often occur on a gradually shelving shore, where breaking waves
approach the shore parallel to it, or where underwater topography encourages outflow at one specific
area. The location of rip currents can be difficult to predict; some tend to recur always in the same
places, but others can appear and disappear suddenly at various locations along the beach. The
appearance and disappearance of rip currents is dependent on the bottom topography and the exact
direction from which the surf and swells are coming.[2]

Rip currents occur wherever there is strong longshore variability in wave breaking. This variability may
be caused by such features as sandbars, by piers and jetties, and even by crossing wave trains, and are
often located in places where there is a gap in a reef, or low area on a sandbar. Rip currents, once they
have formed, may deepen the channel through a sandbar.
Rip currents are usually quite narrow, but they tend to be more common, wider, and faster, when and
where breaking waves are large and powerful. Local underwater topography makes some beaches more
likely to have rip currents; a few beaches are notorious in this respect.[3]

Although rip tide is a misnomer, in areas of significant tidal range, rip currents may only occur at certain
stages of the tide, when the water is shallow enough to cause the waves to break over a sand bar, but
deep enough for the broken wave to flow over the bar. (In parts of the world with a big difference
between high tide and low tide, and where the shoreline shelves gently, the distance between a bar and
the shoreline may vary from a few meters to a kilometer or more, depending whether it is high tide or
low tide.)

A fairly common misconception is that rip currents can pull a swimmer down, under the surface of the
water. This is not true, and in reality a rip current is strongest close to the surface, as the flow near the
bottom is slowed by friction.

The surface of a rip current can often appear to be a relatively smooth area of water, without any
breaking waves, and this deceptive appearance may cause some beach-goers to believe that it is a
suitable place to enter the water.[4]

Visible characteristics[edit]

Much foam being carried out to sea in one narrow strip of water is often a visible sign of a rip current.

Rip currents have a characteristic appearance, and, with some experience, they can be visually identified
from the shore before entering the water. This is helpful to lifeguards, swimmers, surfers, boaters,
divers and other water users, who may need to avoid a rip, or in some cases make use of the flow.

Rip currents often look somewhat like a road or river running straight out to sea, and they are easiest to
notice and identify when the zone of breaking waves is viewed from a high vantage point. The following
are some visual characteristics that can be used to identify a rip: [7]
  A noticeable break in the pattern of the waves — the water often looks flat at the rip, in contrast
to the lines of breaking waves on either side of the rip.

 A "river" of foam — the surface of the rip sometimes looks foamy, because the current is
carrying foam from the surf out to open water.

 Different color — the rip may differ in color from the surrounding water; it is often more
opaque, cloudier, or muddier, and so, depending on the angle of the sun, the rip may show as
darker or lighter than the surrounding water.

 It is sometimes possible to see that foam or floating debris on the surface of the rip is moving
out, away from the shore. In contrast, in the surrounding areas of breaking waves, floating
objects and foam are being pushed towards the shore.

These characteristics are helpful in learning to recognize and understand the nature of rip currents.
Learning these signs can enable a person to recognize the presence and position of rips before entering
the water.

In the United States, some beaches have signs created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and United States Lifesaving Association, explaining what a rip current is and
how to escape one. These signs are titled, "Rip Currents; Break the Grip of the Rip". [8] Two of these signs
are shown in the image at the top of this article. Beachgoers can also get information from lifeguards,
who are always watching for rip currents, and who will move their safety flags so that swimmers can
avoid rips.

Danger to swimmers[edit]

Stored rip current warning signs in the Netherlands.

A warning sign in France

Rip currents are a potential source of danger for people in shallow water with breaking waves, whether
this is in seas, oceans or large lakes.[7] Rip currents are the proximate cause of 80% of rescues carried out
by beach lifeguards.[9]

Rip currents typically flow at about 0.5 m/s (1.6 ft/s), but they can be as fast as 2.5 m/s (8.2 ft/s), which
is faster than any human can swim. However, most rip currents are fairly narrow, and even the widest
rip currents are not very wide; swimmers usually can exit the rip easily by swimming at a right angle to
the flow, parallel to the beach. Swimmers who are unaware of this fact may exhaust themselves trying
unsuccessfully to swim directly against the flow. [2] The flow of the current also fades out completely at
the head of the rip, outside the zone of the breaking waves, so there is a definite limit to how far the
swimmer will be taken out to sea by the flow of a rip current.

In a rip current, death by drowning occurs when a person has limited water skills and panics, or when a
swimmer persists in trying to swim to shore against a strong rip current, and thus eventually becomes
exhausted and drowns.

According to NOAA, over a 10-year average, rip currents cause 46 deaths annually in the United States,
and 64 people died in rip currents in 2013. [10] However, the United States Lifesaving
Association "estimates that the annual number of deaths due to rip currents on our nation's beaches
exceeds 100."[8]

A study published in 2013 in Australia revealed that rips killed more people on Australian territory than
bushfires, floods, cyclones and shark attacks combined. [11]

Management[edit]

People caught in a rip current may notice that they are moving away from the shore quite rapidly. Often,
it is not possible to swim directly back to shore against a rip current, so this is not recommended.
Contrary to popular misunderstanding, a rip does not pull a swimmer under the water; it simply carries
the swimmer away from the shore in a narrow band of moving water. [1]
A rip current is like a moving treadmill, which the swimmer can get out of quite easily by swimming at a
right angle, across the current, i.e. parallel to the shore in either direction. Rip currents are usually not
very wide, so getting out of one only takes a few strokes. Once out of the rip current, getting back to
shore is also not difficult, since waves are breaking, and floating objects (including swimmers) will be
pushed by the waves towards the shore. [12]

As an alternative, people who are caught in a strong rip can simply relax (either floating or treading
water) and allow the current to carry them until it dissipates completely once it is beyond the surf line.
Then the person can signal for help, or swim back through the surf, doing so diagonally, away from the
rip and towards the shore.[2]

It is necessary for coastal swimmers not only to understand the danger of rip currents, but to learn how
to recognize them, and how to deal with them. And whenever possible, it is also necessary that people
enter the water only in areas where lifeguards are on duty. [7]

Uses[edit]

Experienced and knowledgeable water users, including surfers, body boarders, divers, surf lifesavers and
kayakers, when they wish to get out beyond the breaking waves, will sometimes use a rip current as a
rapid and effortless means of transportation. [13]
How far can a rip current take you out to sea?
These currents may extend 200 to 2,500 feet (61 to 762 m) lengthwise, but they are
typically less than 30 feet (9 m) wide. Rip currents can move at a pretty good speed,
often 5 miles per hour (8 kph) or faster.
What is the difference between a rip tide and a rip current?
Rip currents are narrow currents that occur in surf zones that result in water flowing
away from the shore, typically near a break in a sand bar. Rip tides, on the other hand,
are very strong currents that occur as the tide pulls out of an inlet.

How long can a rip current last?

They can be the size of two lanes of highway to the length of a football field. They can
last from minutes to months depending on what's causing it. Either side of the rip
current, there's usually waves breaking.