For the past three years Orissa coast has been experiencing severe erosion due to choppy sea. To ascertain the reasons behind erosion as well as draw up possible mitigation measures, marine experts of National Institute of Oceanography conducted surveys in the affected areas. While in the previous years Gopalpur and Potlampur witnessed the fury of sea, this year it was the turn of Ramayapatna which was battered by hightide. Prof. Bijoy Kumar Sahu of Marine Science Department of Berhampur University, who is currently the vice-chancellor, said beaches of Orissa are mostly sandy and mostly backed by sand dunes/ vegetation in the backshore. However, with urbanisation and climate change, beaches have become inherently hazardous. There are three types of hazards common to the beaches of Orissa - water depth, breaking waves and surf zone current/rip currents, Sahu said. Along the Orissa coast, waves are medium with average wave height of 1.5-2.0 m. However, during monsoon (June-September), the wave height increases intermittently and sometime attains unusual heights and thus provide significant wave energy for generation of strong rip currents. Rip currents directed towards the sea cause severe erosion. Therefore, the beaches of Orissa are prone to hazards mostly during south-west monsoon (June-September) while the deposition begins with the onset of north-east monsoon (December-February), he said. On the coastal areas mostly affected by erosion, he said during the last two years, some stretches of Orissa coast have experienced severe erosion. They are Pentha in Rajnagar area of Kendrapara district, Paradip, Puri, Chilika mouth area, Gopalpur, Ramayapatnam and north of Bahuda eastury. The reasons behind severe erosion in these specific stretches are formation of sand spit/bars to the south, geomorphologic features and infra-gravity waves. On measures to minimise beach hazards and erosion, Sahu said maintenance of the public safety on beaches requires both hazard identification and mitigation of hazards. Rip current directed towards sea causes erosion as well as loss of life. Therefore, lifeguards and lifesavers should patrol the tourist beaches such as Puri and Gopalpur to mitigate beach hazards and loss of life. One of the options to tackle the erosion along Puri and Gopalpur is to construct seawalls at the most vulnerable points. But this option has disadvantages in the long run, he cautioned. Deploying geo-tubes either parallel or perpendicular to the shoreline in the surf zone is one of the best options to protect coasts from erosion, Sahu said. Incidentally, the Marine Science Department of the varsity is said to be the only such department in eastern India.