Current affairs
With rip currents killing more than 100 people every year, researchers at the University of Florida are developing a better way to predict the currents. By correlating past rip current studies with wave conditions, the researchers developed an index that can help forecast when and where a current will occur.
The weather service used to rely on factors such as a wave’s height and the length of time between two waves, to predict rip currents.
“We basically just extended upon the index that the National Weather Service uses,” says Bob Thieke, an assistant professor of civil and coastal engineering. “We changed the factors around a little and added in the wave’s direction.”
Thieke says the goal of the ongoing study is to make the index a useful tool for lifeguards.
"With this index, we can now give the guards a day or two heads up on the wave conditions.”