Oriented Object Detection for Complex Hydrodynamic Features: A Multi-Platform Rip Current Identification System

Abstract. Rip currents are hazardous, fast-moving seaward flows and remain one of the leading causes of rescues and drownings on surf beaches, yet their automated detection remains a significant challenge due to their amorphous, dynamic morphology and the environmental complexity of the surf zone. This study introduces a novel platform-agnostic deep learning–based framework for automated rip current detection from beach imaging platforms, integrating three core contributions: a diverse new dataset, a rigorous architectural benchmark, and a deployable operational tool. We first present RipAID, a comprehensive dataset enriched with multi-platform imagery and multiple viewing angles to ensure scale-invariant learning. Building on this resource, a systematic evaluation of state-of-the-art architectures demonstrates that geometric fidelity is critical; specifically Oriented Bounding Boxes (OBB) significantly outperform standard axis-aligned methods. Our optimized YOLOv11n-OBB model achieves robust performance (mAP50: 0.927), with inference speeds from 2.4 to 60 FPS on hardware ranging from edge devices to GPU workstations. To bridge the gap between research and practice, and ensure that the results are reusable and reproducible, the framework and model weights have been released as an open-source, containerized module (socib-rip-currents-detection), providing the coastal safety community with a scalable, ready-to-use and standardized tool for continuous, automated rip current monitoring.