Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

• Main Authors: S. J. Pitman, K. Thompson, D. E. Hart, K. Moran, S. L. Gallop, R. W. Brander, A. Wooler
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2021-01-01
• Series: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• Online Access: https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/21/115/2021/nhess-21-115-2021.pdf

<p>Rip currents (“rips”) are the leading cause of drowning on surf beaches worldwide. A major contributing factor is that many beachgoers are unable to identify rip currents. Previous research has attempted to quantify beachgoers' rip identification ability using photographs of rip currents without identifying whether this usefully translates into an ability to identify a rip current in situ at the beach. This study is the first to compare beachgoers ability to identify rip currents in photographs and in situ at a beach in New Zealand (Muriwai Beach) where a channel rip current was present. Only 22 <span class="inline-formula">%</span> of respondents were able to identify the in situ rip current. The highest rates of success were for males (33 <span class="inline-formula">%</span>), New Zealand residents (25 <span class="inline-formula">%</span>), and local beach users (29 <span class="inline-formula">%</span>). Of all respondents who were successful at identifying the rip current in situ, 62 <span class="inline-formula">%</span> were active surfers/bodyboarders, and 28 <span class="inline-formula">%</span> were active beach swimmers. Of the respondents who were able to identify a rip current in two photographs, only 34 <span class="inline-formula">%</span> were able to translate this into a successful in situ rip identification, which suggests that the ability to identify rip currents by beachgoers is worse than reported by previous studies involving photographs. This study highlights the difficulty of successfully identifying a rip current in reality and that photographs are not necessarily a useful means of teaching individuals to identify rip currents. It advocates for the use of more immersive and realistic education strategies, such as the use of virtual reality headsets showing moving imagery (videos) of rip currents in order to improve rip identification ability.</p>