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The surf zone can contain dangerous rip currents: strong local currents which flow offshore and pose a threat to swimmers. Rip-current outlooks use the following set of qualifications:
# ''Low-risk rip currents'': Wind and/or wave conditions are not expected to support the development of rip currents; however, rip currents can sometimes occur, especially in the vicinity of jetties and piers. Know how to swim and heed the advice of lifeguards.
# ''Moderate-risk rip currents'': Wind and/or wave conditions support stronger or more frequent rip currents. Only experienced surf swimmers should enter the water.
# ''High-risk rip currents'': Wind and/or wave conditions support dangerous rip currents. Rip currents are life-threatening to anyone entering the surf.
.
Rip currents: Nearshore fundamentals
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Retrieved 17 April 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Surf zone Coastal geography Physical oceanography Oceanographical terminology
ocean surface wave
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction o ...
s approach shore, they get taller and break, forming the foamy, bubbly surface called ''surf''. The region of breaking wave
In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave or breaker is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level at which large amounts of wave energy transform into turbulent kinetic energy. At this point, simple physical models that describe wave dynam ...
s defines the surf zone, or breaker zone. After breaking in the surf zone, the waves (now reduced in height) continue to move in, and they run up onto the sloping front of the beach
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc s ...
, forming an uprush of water called swash. The water then runs back again as backwash. The nearshore zone where wave water comes onto the beach is the surf zone. The water in the surf zone is shallow, usually between deep; this causes the waves
Waves most often refers to:
* Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass.
* Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water.
Waves may also refer to:
Music
*Waves (ban ...
to be unstable.
Animal life
The animals that often are found living in the surf zone are crabs,clams
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...
, and snails. Surf clams and mole crabs are two species that stand out as inhabitants of the surf zone. Both of these animals are very fast burrowers. The surf clam, also known as the variable coquina, is a filter feeder that uses its gills to filter microalgae, tiny zooplankton
Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
, and small particulates out of seawater. The mole crab is a suspension feeder that eats by capturing zooplankton with its antennae. All of these creatures burrow down into the sand to escape from being pulled into the ocean from the tides and waves. They also burrow themselves in the sand to protect themselves from predators. The surf zone is full of nutrients, oxygen, and sunlight which leaves the zone very productive with animal life.
Rip currents
The surf zone can contain dangerous rip currents: strong local currents which flow offshore and pose a threat to swimmers. Rip-current outlooks use the following set of qualifications:
# ''Low-risk rip currents'': Wind and/or wave conditions are not expected to support the development of rip currents; however, rip currents can sometimes occur, especially in the vicinity of jetties and piers. Know how to swim and heed the advice of lifeguards.
# ''Moderate-risk rip currents'': Wind and/or wave conditions support stronger or more frequent rip currents. Only experienced surf swimmers should enter the water.
# ''High-risk rip currents'': Wind and/or wave conditions support dangerous rip currents. Rip currents are life-threatening to anyone entering the surf.
See also
*Intertidal zone
The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...
* Littoral zone
The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal ...
* Surf fishing
References
* Pinet, Paul R (2008) ''Invitation to Oceanography'', Chapter 11: The Dynamic Shoreline. Edition 5 revised. Jones & Bartlett Learning, * "Breaker Zone." ''The Free Dictionary''. Farlex Inc, 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2012.External links
* ''MetEd'' (2012Rip currents: Nearshore fundamentals
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Retrieved 17 April 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Surf zone Coastal geography Physical oceanography Oceanographical terminology