Como dizer "Ressaca do mar" em inglês

Como se diz ressaca (do mar) em inglês? Encontrei uma palavra e gostaria que vocês confirmassem: seria UNDERTOW?

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Ahhh, then "rip current" or "rip tide" could be other (more specific) translations. Being a native English speaker, it looks to me like "hangover from the sea." kk

It looks like undertow is a more broad phenomenon, occurring within both a rip current and a rip tide:
A current of water below the surface and moving in a different direction from any surface current.
"I was swept away by the undertow"

A rip current, sometimes incorrectly called a rip tide, is a localized current that flows away from the shoreline toward the ocean, perpendicular or at an acute angle to the shoreline. It usually breaks up not far from shore and is generally not more than 25 meters (80 feet) wide.

A rip tide, or riptide, is a strong offshore current that is caused by the tide pulling water through an inlet along a barrier beach, at a lagoon or inland marina where tide water flows steadily out to sea during ebb tide. It is a strong tidal flow of water within estuaries and other enclosed tidal areas.
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Storm surge
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Undertow seria mais no sentido de "correnteza" quando a maré está vazando e puxa muito forte para o mar. Ou num rio, o sentido da correnteza.

"Ressaca" as we find in Brazil headlines would be "swollen seas" close to the seashore in a given area.

The weather forecast would inform the size of waves and winds, would also express that by "rough sea" or "very rough sea" along with "windy" warnings for a given area.

Ref. dictionary.cambridge
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Swollen seas or surging seas would both be pretty well understood by most people to mean larger and/or choppier waves are hitting the shore, but I'm not sure they capture the force of a full and deadly ressaca do mar, like the one from last month: agenciabrasil.ebc.com

Storm surge is a very similar phenomenon and it comes a lot closer to conveying the potential deadly nature of a ressaca. Every time a hurricane or tropical storm approaches the Gulf Coast of the US, the news programs always discuss the storm surge and make a point to warn people that the deadliest part of the storm is usually not the wind or the rain, but rather the flooding caused by the storm surge.

Ref. Great Weather Channel explanation of why Storm Surge is deadly
Ref. Local news report from Texas talking about storm surge prior to Hurricane Harvey's landfall
Ref. en.wikipedia

I'd explain a ressaca as a storm surge caused by far off storms or weather fronts, such that you still get a dangerous increase in the height and energy of the sea, but don't necessarily get the stormy follow-up.
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Yes, "ressaca" is the effect of a surge of high waves that breaks ashore or even worse, on land.

The "far off" effect comes in hand to explain, let's say a wave is normally to break at five miles (at the coastline), but then with the "help" of winds/storms it becomes a massive wave and abnormally gets rolling far the coastline and goes into places that weren't normally supposed to (past streets/roads).

It gets a massive wave and then it's breaking limit/point gets way past the coastline (say 4 miles past the coastline - in some places, this is part of the city), sometimes making streets or roadways look like (momentarily) waterways.

As it is created by winds and bad weather, strong winds and gusts could be seen near (or not seen - the "far off" effect). Hence the weather warnings, so nobody won't be caught off-guard.

Of course, there are some that don't believe in warnings...
Ref. youtube
Ref. youtube
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In Portuguese "a ressaca" é quando as ondas eram para quebrar na praia, mas elas chegam na praia com toda energia, como se estivessem ainda no alto mar e previsão de quebrar milhas adiante. Como o "milhas adiante" não é a praia, um calçadão por exemplo, as ondas "invadem" o espaço da cidade, quebram o calçadão, levam areia para a pista, etc. Elas são "obrigadas a quebrar" pelos obstáculos em terra - ou antes (rochas, etc).
A onda cria energia, aumenta a si própria em decorrência de ventos, de tempestades em áreas muitas vezes distantes, o tal efeito "far off" que cito. Por isso nem sempre tem ventos fortes por perto, às vezes vem de frentes de alta pressão até distante.
Porém os serviços meteorológicos dão "avisos" de mau tempo com ondas grandes, avisam de ressaca, etc (em português). Em inglês, avisam de "rough sea" ou "very rough seas" "storms" (na área) etc.
Coloquialmente "swollen seas" seria entendido como forma de avisar um incauto para evitar a àrea.

Não dá pra expressar tudo com uma palavra ou outra, tudo depende do contexto em que se insere, como o Bryan explicou (focando no estrago feito, ou que pode potencialmente acontecer em cidades costeiras perto do mar). No Rio tem mais o detalhe da cidade ter bairros que foram "tomados do mar" (aterrados como se vê até pelos nomes - aterro do Flamengo, etc), quando tem ondas anormais, o mar "reclama" o espaço que era dele avançando em certas partes!
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Some more commentary and info...

When you go to the beach, the most common warning system in the US is a series of different colored flags, that indicate different levels of danger in the surf: "calm surf", "moderate surf", "high surf"/"heavy surf".

Ref. breakersfwb
Ref. emdonenilodge

"Rough seas" is a weather warning used to describe rough conditions offshore that would affect boaters and fishermen. You will see this if you go to YouTube and search for "rough seas": there are no videos from the beach.

"Swollen seas" is a description that comes from the name given to those waves that have developed far offshore: "Swells". And if you look, you can find the swell forecast for a given day in the surf report: surfline

A swollen sea will be one with higher swells than normal/average, and this could be used to describe weather offshore or at the beach.

In Galveston, near where I'm from, "moderate swell" or "high surf" come in from time to time, but I don't recall inundation as bad as in those videos except during storm surges.
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Great insights indeed, Bryan. Thanks for sharing.
Undertow = ressaca do mar na praia
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Agreed, the undertow is said of a strong undercurrent that may push swimmers away into the ocean. And it's associated with the body of water on the beach or on the sand nearby, by the shoreline at the most.

Back to the topic, I think a more apt and terse description of "ressaca" could be "storm surge" and "storm flood". In Canada there are storm surge alerts and in the US storm surge warnings.
It is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones (and tropical cyclones or even tropical storms).
It's said when an "invasion" of a body of water happens, swamping roads, streets by the shoreline, etc.

Scientists in Rio de Janeiro have warned that the city’s sea defenses may not be able to cope with the effects of climate change after a record storm surge swamped beaches, dumping hundreds of tonnes of sand across nearby roads and buildings.
Source: The Guardian, Tue 1 Nov 2016.
Ref. theguardian
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Seasick - enjoo causado pelo mar - este é o seu contexto ?
6 49 1.3k
From the original question, we see the word 'undertow'; so I think the context wasn't that of "enjoado/mareado" words that would be more usual than "ressaca" to mean that. Though if it is a more lasting event, perhaps someone talk of 'ressaca' (in an almost metaphorical way).
6 49 1.3k
Translating Portuguese to English and vice versa, in a literal way is very funny! :-)
Com certeza ! It seems like Engliish is so much more specific in its vocabulary.
6 49 1.3k
It seems like English is so much more specific in its vocabulary.
An English-speaking student certainly would say the same about Portuguese. :-)
There are nuances in some terms, verb tenses, etc that don't allow them to be literally exact in terms of translation, interpretation, and so on.
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Adriana Cunha escreveu: 11 Nov 2010, 12:36 Como se diz ressaca (do mar) em inglês? Encontrei uma palavra e gostaria que vocês confirmassem: seria UNDERTOW?
Olá! Também precisei saber falar sobre "ressaca do mar" hoje e, pesquisando nesse site abaixo, descobri que o nome é "high tide flooding".

Ref. oceanservice.noaa