Corrientes Marinas: Evaluating Spanish Rip Current Communications through Beach Signs and Virtual Reality

Abstract Rip currents present a considerable risk to beachgoers with approximately 100 fatalities occurring each year in the United States. Furthermore, a general misunderstanding of the term and lack of awareness increases the preventable impacts of rips. While risk communication is often conducted by governmental organizations, Spanish-speaking communities have been underserved by weather outreach, including rip currents. Over 6 months, 279 surveys were collected to assess the effectiveness of the NOAA and U.S. Lifesaving Association (USLA) Spanish-translated rip current beach sign. While a significant portion of the respondents could not accurately define a rip current, the updated term corrientes marinas was more understood than previous Spanish terms for rip current used by outreach products. However, further communication issues exist including providing links to English websites and general confusion on what the outreach is trying to convey. Improvements were also made, based on previous feedback, to a Spanish rip current virtual reality (VR) simulation, which was assessed as successful in portraying the risk of being caught in a rip to users. While signs and VR are effective risk communication tools, it is important to understand the way in which language is being conveyed to the users and how to best reach the appropriate audience. Significance Statement Rip currents, narrow channels of fast-moving water that can pull swimmers away from the shore, are among the leading weather-related killers in the United States yet are poorly understood by the public. Recent efforts to reduce society’s vulnerability to rip currents include the translation of outreach materials from English to Spanish. This study evaluated a Spanish rip current beach sign and improvements to a Spanish rip current VR simulation. The results show that while the updated term contained in the sign and VR simulation, corrientes marinas , was more effective at communicating rip current risk, more research is needed to understand how selected terms are being interpreted by the target audience.