Historical Analysis of Rip and Shorebreak Rescues
A database is being formed from the last 7 years of records of rip current and shorebreak related rescues made by Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue. All rescue records include the date, time of day and location relative to the nearest lifeguard chair. This data provides evidence of days in which rip current and/or shorebreak activity is strong, and will be correlated with historical directional wave data from nearby wave gauges as well as tidal and local wind data.
An example of the historical rescue data in database form. Work is being done by Jennifer Jones, KDH Ocean Rescue.
The goal of this part of the study is to verify the relationships between strong rip or shorebreak events and the local ocean and weather conditions. Evidence of any along shore consistency or variability in rip or shorebreak events will also be carefully looked at. In a beach hazard safety sense the importance of this is that we may be able to identify certain locations along a beach front as being especially likely to having rip currents or a strong shorebreak. This can enable lifeguards to be more aware of the likelihood of hazardous events at these locations and beach goers can be notified that certain locations might be more prone to hazardous surf conditions on certain days.