Development of a virtual wave buoy system for the Port of Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

The Port of Cape Town is located in Table Bay on the south-west coast of South Africa. Since the port experiences advese weather conditions, especially during the winter period, the monitoring of marine weather and wave conditions forms an integral part of the daily port operations. The port receives real-time offshore wave data, representing the deep-sea wave conditions. To meet a request for wave information inside the bay, a real-time wave transformation model was set up for Table Bay. The SWAN wave generation and refraction model was used for this application. The output from this model was used for this application. The output from this model is provided at six locations in the bay. These six locations, in essence represent imaginary wave buoys or "Virtual Wave Buoys".