Undertow Current

Jun 15, 2017  How to escape a rip current, undertow or riptide This link opens in a new window. This powerful force is actually called a rip current; it’s not a tide, and undertow is a completely different. What's going on here? More than likely, they're experiencing a phenomenon known as a rip current or an undertow. An undertow and a rip current are both caused by the action of waves breaking on the shore. An undertow is usually much milder than a rip current. However, undertows have been known to have enough power to sweep swimmers out to sea.

.This article is within the scope of, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the and see a list of open tasks.This article has been rated as Start-Class on the project's.This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's.This article is supported by.(Rated Start-class, Low-importance)Scuba diving Wikipedia:WikiProject Scuba diving Template:WikiProject Scuba diving SCUBA articles. Contents.Removal of speedy deletion tag I have removed the speedy tag because this article is more than just a definition; it gives the environmental role of the natural phenomenon as well. 04:01, 4 October 2009 (UTC)This article needs expansion. It is obvious that a reasonably lengthy article can be written that explains, inter alia:.

conditions creating undertow. The munchables game part 3. physics of undertow. ways to identify undertowplus many other topics.

The notion that the topic is only suited for a dictdef (even if that was the state of the article) is an odd one. 07:07, 4 October 2009 (UTC) Distinction from rip tide 04:52, 4 October 2009 (UTC)Nature of hazard I am concerned that the article not perpetuate two dubious hazards attributed to undertows: that they can pull people under the surface, or that they can pull people out to sea (as a ). These effects are not substantiated in the reliable material I have run across (e.g. The cited source ).

This article seems like a notable opportunity for Wikipedia to appreciably contribute to an accurate broad public understanding of a bona fide safety hazard prone to inflammatory mischaracterization, if proper sources can be found to cite. 15:35, 28 May 2010 (UTC)In the meantime I cleaned it up a bit without searching for sources.

18:13, 5 August 2010 (UTC) An undertow can certainly pull you under, unless the signs that litter every dam on the continent are using the wrong term to refer to the downwards pulling effect of falling water. Another example is a sinking car. 22:04, 24 February 2012 (UTC) If you can find a good reference to the word 'undertow' used in warning signs at dams and similar places where water is falling hard and fast underwater, then great, please add it! I myself would call that 'undersurface turbulence', not undertow. 17:48, 1 January 2014 (UTC)Gee, why not just do a google search for 'dam undertow' and 'river undertow' instead of asking for references.

Do you live in a cave?Substantial re-write Today I was BOLD and substantially re-wrote this article. All modern sources I could find define 'undertow' as a plain and simple, although they often also mention the popular scary idea of being pulled under and held under until you drown. In fact this article should probably be reduced to a redirect page to, aka rip tide.The folk definition of the 'undertow', as something omnipresent in the shallow water near a beach that can pull you under and hold you underwater until you drown, is a complete misapprehension, a negative fantasy rather like the. I imagine that this folk belief was probably inspired by hearing about drownings that were due to rip currents, along with a complete lack of knowledge of what a rip really is. 17:42, 1 January 2014 (UTC)Update I recently got a message on my talk page from an oceanographer who explained what the proper scientific use of the term is. However the explanation was very dense, and so I am most sure I understand it.

I also left in the popular misunderstanding, as I feel that is important too. 23:38, 29 May 2014 (UTC)Winslow Homer. Undertow or rip current? Upsetting to the politically correct?has a painting of two men rescuing two attractive women from the surf in a decidedly Neanderthal manner. Homer called this an 'undertow', though it's not clear whether he really meant a. The water's only knee deep, so perhaps it is an undertow. In that case, it's hard to see why the women needed 'rescuing' in this fashion.

On the other hand, perhaps the woman were dragged in from the deep, in which case it would have been a rip current. There does seem to be the appearance of a rip in the calm water on the right side. I'll let other editors decide if they want to use this image. 23:36, 5 July 2014 (UTC)When in doubt, try.English. Too human download. Greetings esteemed editors. Wikipedia articles at their best explain their topics to readers in plain English-which an ordinary literate person can understand.

This article is a FAIL. Could some reader who understands undertows please, please explain it to the rest of us in English-with appropriate references, of course? Many thanks to the person who can do it. 19:25, 25 July 2015 (UTC)oceanography?

Undertows are quite dangerous in rivers, there is no confusion 'undertow' is often used to describe river currents, as in when water flowing over a dam, waterfall, or submerged rocks can create a powerful downward current that can suck objects and people down and trap them in an underwater vortex. In this context, there's very little confusion with rip-currents. River undertows are generally persistent, rather than intermittent or cyclical like coastal currents.As someone thats spent a whole lot of time wading rivers, I can tell you theres at least two kinds of undertow.

A dam, waterfall, or steep slide gives the water a signifigant downward momentum, which creates undertow when it enters a 'pool' at the base.Water flowing over underwater obstructions creates an undertow, Ive been sucked down and trapped myself. I think this is similar to when wind flows over a wall or other obstruction, theres a strong downdraft and vortex on the 'leeward' side. — Preceding comment added by (.

) 15:53, 1 December 2015‎ Hello Fencelizard, as stated in the article name - undertow (water waves) - the subject is the undertow occurring under water waves, most notably near the coasts of oceans, seas and large lakes. If there is a of undertow in rivers, it could be created as a new Wikipedia article. 20:50, 1 December 2015 (UTC) Changes to the lead of the article The following additions to the start of the article lead:Undertow in water waves is a current that is physically experienced as the off-shore pull that a person feels when they are standing in the water within the breaking-wave zone near a beach.

People feel this current most strongly near their feet, as each breaking wave advances towards them.Despite the good intentions to attempt to improve the article: as far as I can see, this is original research. It is not backed-up by the scientific research on the topic and in contradiction with physics principles:. an 'off-shore pull' is a force, while the subject is a current - drag forces are quadratic in the current velocity, so in the highly oscillatory and strongly non-sinusoidal velocities in the surf zone, one does not experience the currents directly. This is also clear since most people are pushed over shorewards when being hit by a breaker;. the undertow is a mean current in a highly oscillatory velocity field, the oscillations being larger than the mean - how could one detect with any accuracy this mean velocity from the experienced push and pull (also given the quadratic dependence of the physical felt forces on the flow velocity);. where is there any objective evidence (reliable references) that '.

People feel this current most strongly near their feet, as each breaking wave advances towards them.' ;. as was in the start of the lead's earlier version, the context of undertow is the science of oceanography.Also, as stated further on in the lead (and in previous versions also further-on in the article) undertow occurs both in breaking waves in the surf zone, as well as in non-breaking waves (outside the surf zone).

18:54, 3 August 2016 (UTC)dutch muistroom it shows HOW to act while taken, so dont swim AGAINST it but float a bit with the stream, ON surface only of course — Preceding comment added by 10:12, 25 August 2016 (UTC) Dutch 'muistroom' is, which is a different topic. 20:16, 25 August 2016 (UTC).

Both of those are two different things. People say 'riptide' but what they are referring to is not normally a tidal force, the better term is Rip Current.

There is a separate thing called a riptide that usually only affects boats.UndertowsUndertows are not really dangerous for most people. The term is often used interchangeably with rip current, but it just describes water under the waves going out to sea feeding the waves. As the water gets deep enough for waves to form (like. Maybe 1 meter deep) the undertows weaken.