A phenomenon less known to Romanians causes dozens of victims every year, in the Black Sea. Specialists recommend tourists to follow the instructions of lifeguards and local authorities, to avoid danger. What are rip currents in the Black Sea and how dangerous they are, you can find out in the lines below.
How dangerous are rip currents?
The beach sectors of the Black Sea where the most rip currents are formed are: Eforie Nord, Costinești, 2 Mai, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. In Eforie Nord there are ten such currents at a distance of one kilometer, say the experts who analyzed the area.
“From our analyses, based on the interventions of the lifeguards, we noticed that all the deaths that occurred on the Eforie Nord sector happened during the moments when the red flag was hoisted. So, when the tourists were not supposed to enter the water and when the rip currents are very, very strong”, Florin Tătui, PhD associate researcher at the Faculty of Geography of the University of Bucharest, drew attention.
Trying to swim against a rip current is not a solution, experts say. An ordinary but trained swimmer can swim 0.8 meters/second, an Olympic swimmer two, three meters/second. For comparison, the speed with which the water of a mountain river flows is one, two meters/second.
You may also be interested in: The strange phenomenon that appeared on the coast of the Black Sea. The reason why the water is very cold at the end of July
Specialists recommend tourists to follow the indications of the lifeguards and respect the warning messages placed by the local authorities and more, in order to protect their own lives.
What are rip currents in the Black Sea and how are they formed
Thousands of Romanians choose to spend their free days on the coast, at the Black Sea, in the warm season. Some have pleasant experiences, while others, unfortunately, never make it back home. Many do not know the dangers to which they can expose themselves at sea.
Dozens of tourists lose their lives every year, due to a phenomenon that occurs in the sea, according to specialists. It’s about rip currents. These are surface currents, narrow but very strong. Rip currents form when the water reaches the waist.
Sea waves break on the shore, the water narrows offshore through a channel, and gives rise to rip currents. They form perpendicular to the beach and, in some cases, can reach up to 70 meters wide. The average speed of a rip current is 0.5 meters/second, but the maximum reaches 3 meters/second.
How can you identify a rip current? The specialists explained, in an intervention for Libertatea, that if there are waves on the sea, but there is a narrow area, perpendicular to the beach, with calm water (turbid or dark in color), you are dealing with a rip current .
