Rip Currents and Undertows - Port Maitland Beach
Note: to have the best chance of seeing a Rip Current, it is best to visit GZ, during times of high onshore winds, with intense wave action.
What’s a Rip Current?
A rip current (or Rip) is a water current that can occur near beaches where waves break. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water that moves directly away from shore by cutting through the lines of breaking waves. Basically, a river flowing out to sea. The force of the current in a rip is strongest and fastest next to the surface of the water.
Video of a Rip Current coming off shore : Example of a Rip Tide
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.
Rip Current? Under tow? What's the Difference?
A rip current is not the same thing as an undertow, although some people use the term interchangeably. Neither a rip current nor undertow can pull a person down and hold them under 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.
An undertow occurs everywhere underneath shore-approaching waves, whereas rip currents are localized narrow offshore currents occurring at certain locations along the coast. The undertow is strongest in the surf zone, where the water is shallow and the waves are high due to shoaling.
A rip current forms because wind and breaking waves push surface water towards the land. This causes a slight rise in the water level along the shore. This excess water flows back to the open water along the route of least resistance. When there is a slightly deeper channel, such as a break in an offshore sand bar, a rip current is likely to form in that gap.
Rip currents will form in oceans, seas, and large lakes, whenever there are waves of sufficient energy. Rip currents occur wherever there is strong longshore variability in wave breaking. This variability may be caused by sandbars, piers or jetties.
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.
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.
How to Spot a Rip Current: How to Spot a Rip Current
To Claim this EarthCache, send your answers, for the following questions, to the CO at the top of this page:
Posted Coordinates:
1) What prominent feature is likely the main cause of the Rip Current here?
2) Looking at the water from the pier, what evidence do you notice, that there is a rip current flowing out into Lake Erie, from the beach.
Waypoint 2: Walk along the beach, to Waypoint 2. Here you will find a sign warning of the Rip Current.
3) According to the sign, when do Rip Currents occur?
4) The sign suggests 4 things you should do if caught in a Rip Current, what are they?
5) Continue to walk along the beach, until you see a sign warning of a “Severe Under Tow”. If you were swimming on this beach, how far (metres or feet) do you need to be away from the pier
Finally, from the reading or videos:
6) What feature on the lake bottom is the main contributor to the formation of a Rip Current?
7) What is the main difference between a Rip Current and an Undertow
Please also include a photo of any evidence you notice of a Rip Current or undertow, along with a thumbs up!