Measuring the World and Beyond
Dubai Municipality & DOME International LLC Using SeaSondes to Measure Currents & Waves From Palm Jumeriah to Port Rashid along the Dubai Coast.
Image shows Dubai coastline and impressive offshore man-made islands: The Palm Jumeriah development (shown at image bottom) and The World Islands development (shown at image center). SeaSonde-produced 2-D surface current vectors are shown surrounding The World archipelago.
Click image to enlarge
|
Located inside the Arabian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula, Dubai is home to some of the new millennium’s boldest engineering construction projects. Records are being made here, with projects such as The Palm Islands that are the largest man-made islands in the world. The latest project, named “The World” is an archipelago of 300 manmade islands laid out in the shape of an earth map. These “resort islands”, located just a few km offshore, will support multi-million dollar dwellings and vacation amenities. Constructed primarily with dredged sand, and positioned with very little spacing between each, understanding water flow dynamics and sediment transport is critical.
The Dubai Municipality (DM) established in 1954 is responsible for city planningand infrastructure upkeep, including development, public health and environmentalaffairs. Decisions made by the DM today relating to the new island developmentprojects will have longlasting effects on this emirate. Given the gravity oftheir duties, DM is utilizing the most advanced technologies and expert consultantsto help them in the responsibilities they are charged with regarding coast stabilization.The application of state of the art monitoring and modeling tools was identifiedby the Dubai Municipality as a vehicle for developing an understanding of theprevailing coastal processes and effects of coastal line changes. One of themain aims of the project is to enhance the existing Dubai Coastal Zone MonitoringProgram which has been running since 2002 using a variety of technologies monitoringnatural processes in the coastal zone. In 2008 the DM Coastal Zone and WaterwaysManagement Section contracted with the company DOME International LLC for implementinga SeaSonde network to continuously monitor the waves and currents along theircoastline. System installation and commissioning was completed in December 2008.The outputs of the project includes speed and direction of the sea surface currentsin a meticulous manner and also the period, significant height and dominant directionof waves. SeaSonde data outputs are correlating extremely well with other availablesensor data from the area, and are revealing the region 2-D dynamics. Data willsoon be posted regularly on the DM’s official web site: www.dubaicoast.ae.
Dome International LLC, with 10 offices in the Middle East Region, is a leadinghealth, safety and environment consultancy firm inside the UAE.
| SeaSonde antennas in Dubai |
Click images to enlarge |
 |
 |
 |
Correlation between Umm Suqueim tide station and CODAR
total vector currents from DMRS and UMMS. |
Wave plots of DMRS CODAR data (top)
and JOB ADCP wave data on 17 Dec. 2008
(obtained from Dubai Municipality website). |
All Data Shown Are Provided Courtesy of Dubai Municipality & DOME International LLC. |
|
