Tests of a New Hypothesis for Non-Bathymetrically Driven Rip Currents

Rip currents-strong, isolated, offshore-directed flows-can occur in the absence of bathymetric features such as rip channels. No consensus exists regarding the cause of these impressive but life-threatening features, sometimes called "flash" rip currents. In a new model, flash rip currents...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of coastal research 2003-03, Vol.19 (2), p.269-277
Main Authors: MURRAYT, A. Brad, LEBARS, Michael, GUILLONT, Cyril
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bathymetry
Beaches
Dynamics of the ocean (upper and deep oceans)
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering Sciences
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Fluid mechanics
Fluids mechanics
Image rectification
Mechanics
Modeling
Observational research
Ocean currents
Ocean, Atmosphere
Parametric models
Physics
Physics of the oceans
Sciences of the Universe
Simulations
Standard deviation
Waves
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Summary:Rip currents-strong, isolated, offshore-directed flows-can occur in the absence of bathymetric features such as rip channels. No consensus exists regarding the cause of these impressive but life-threatening features, sometimes called "flash" rip currents. In a new model, flash rip currents self-organize because of feedbacks resulting from a newly hypothesized interaction between waves and currents. Robust predictions arise from this numerical model: Flash rip currents become less prevalent with increasing beach slope and increasing variations in incident-wave heights. The results of field tests of these predictions support this model, but are not consistent with some other models, as applied to the flash rip currents on beaches such as those in Southern California.
ISSN:0749-0208
1551-5036