Rip Current Zones along Beaches in Goa, West Coast of India
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 123, Issue 6
Abstract
Goa has a 125-km-long coastline of which two-thirds consists of beautiful sandy beaches. There are mainly 17 beaches having significant importance of tourism. Sporadically, surf drownings have been reported at a few stretches of the beach. Longshore currents were measured at 2-week intervals from November 1993 to October 1994 along these beaches to identify the zones of strong longshore currents and rip currents. Entire beaches were found to be unsafe for swimming during the southwest monsoon season. Parts of stations 5 and 6 in Harmal beach, 16 at Vagator beach, 51–54 at Miramar beach, 75 and 76 at Valsao beach, 84 at Majorda beach, and 116 at Palolem beach are observed to have the risk of permanent rip current zones; and they are unsafe places for swimming all through the year. Parts of Colva, Benaulim, and Agonda beaches, which are suitable for surf swimming, are identified.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Antony, M. K.(1976). “Wave refraction studies off Calangute beach, Goa with special reference to sediment transport and rip currents,” Indian J. Marine Sci., 5(1), 1–8.
2.
Basco, D. R. (1982). “Surfzone currents.”Misc. Rep. No. 82-7, Vol. I, U.S. Army Corps of Engrs. Va., 243.
3.
Basco, D. R.(1983). “Surfzone currents.”Coast. Engrg., 7, 331–355.
4.
Chandramohan, P., Nayak, B. U., and Anand, N. M.(1994). “Crest breaking time-lapse approach to measure breaker angle.”J. Wtrwy., Port, Coast, and Oc. Engrg., ASCE, 120(3), 318–324.
5.
Dalrymple, R. A. (1978). “Rip currents and their causes.”Proc., 16th Coast Engrg. Conf., Vol. II, 1414–1427.
6.
Dalrymple, R. A., and Lozano, C. J. (1978). “Wave-current interaction models for rip currents.”J. Geophy. Res., 83(C12), 6063–6071.
7.
Dodd, N., and Oltman-Shay, and Thornton(1992). “Shear instabilities in the longshore current: a comparison of observation and theory.”J. Phy. Oceanography, 22(1), 62–82.
8.
Galvin Jr., C. J.(1967). “Longshore current velocity: a review of theory and data.”Rev. of Geophysics, 5(3), 287–304.
9.
Huntley, D. A., and Short, A. D. (1992). “On the spacing between observed rip currents.”Coast. Engrg., 17(3&4), 211–225.
10.
Jain, A. K. (1990). “Numerical wave transformation model for the Karwar coast,” M. Tech. thesis, KREC, Surathkal, India, 114.
11.
Larson, M., and Kraus, N. C.(1991). “Numerical model of longshore current for bar and trough beaches.”J. Wtrwy., Port, Coast, and Oc. Engrg., ASCE, 117(4), 326–347.
12.
Longuet-Higgins, M. S.(1970). “Longshore currents generated by obliquely incident waves, 1 & 2.”J. Geophy. Res., 75(33), 6778–6801.
13.
Murthy, C. S., Veerayya, M., and Varadachari, V. V. R.(1975). “Littoral and rip currents off Calangute beach, Goa.”Indian J. Marine Sci., India, 4(1), 1–4.
14.
Murthy, C. S., Veerayya, M., and Varadachari, V. V. R. (1982). `Morphological changes of the beaches of Goa.”Indian J. Marine Sci., India, 11(1), 35–42.
15.
Murthy, C. S., and Veerayya, M.(1985). “Longshore currents and associated sediment transport in the nearshore areas of Kerala and Goa, west coast of India.”Mahasagar, India, 18(2), 163–177.
16.
Nair, R. R., and Hashmi, N. H.(1980). “Holocene climate inference for the sediment of the western India continental shelf.”Proc., Indian Acad. Sci. (E&P Sci.), 89(3), 299–315.
17.
Putnam, J. A., Munk, W. H., and Traylor, M. A.(1949). “The prediction of longshore currents.”Trans. Am. Geophysical Union, 30(3), 337–345.
18.
Schneider, C. (1981). “The littoral environment observation (LEO) data collection program.”Coast. Engrg. Tech. Aid No. 81-5, U.S. Army Corps of Engr., CERC, Fort Belvoir, Va., 24.
19.
Shemer, L., Dodd, N., and Thornton, E. B. (1991). “Slow-time modulation of finite depth nonlinear water waves: Relation to longshore current oscillations.”J. Geophy. Res., 96(C4), 7105–7113.
20.
Skovgaard, O., Jonsson, I. G., and Bertelsen, J. A.(1975). “Computation of wave heights due to refraction and friction.”J. Wtrwy., Port, Coast, and Oc. Engrg., ASCE, 101(1), 15–32.
21.
Swamy, G. N. (1976). “Changes in Miramar-Caranzalem beach, Goa, during the period of shoaling in Aguda bar.”Mahasagar, India, 9(1&2), 19–22.
22.
Swamy, G. N., and Varadachari, V. V. R.(1981). “Stability and safety of Anjuna beach, Goa.”Mahasagar, India, 14(2), 97–107.
23.
Veerayya, M., Murthy, C. S., and Varadachari, V. V. R.(1981). “Wave refraction and littoral currents off Colva beach, Goa.”Indian J. Marine Sci., India, 10(1), 1–9.
24.
Wagle, B. G. (1987). “Geomorphology and evolution of the coastal and offshore areas of Maharashtra and Goa, India,” PhD thesis, Univ. of Bombay, India, 166.
25.
Whitford, D. J., and Thornton, E. B. (1996). “Bed shear stress coefficients for longshore currents over a barred profile.”Coast. Engrg., 27(3&4), 243–262.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 123 • Issue 6 • November 1997
Pages: 322 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 1, 1997
Published in print: Nov 1997
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.