Coastalwatch Delivers A World First For Surfers

26-Feb-2010
The humble surf check has just received a major facelift with the announcement Coastalwatch will be unveiling Wave Height/Wave Period technology to coincide with this weeks Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks on the Gold coast.

This new technology will provide surfers with access to real time data from the Coastalwatch Snapper Rocks surf cam meaning surf checks will be more accurate and more up-to-date than anything previously seen online.

As Coastalwatch Chief Forecaster Ben Macartney explains, “Coastalwatch can now lay claim to being the first website that can update surf reports continuously throughout the day. There are always occasions when a surf reporter files a report at 7.00am listing the surf size as 2ft, yet by 11.00am it may have built to 4 – 5 ft. The new automated technology covers those situations and indeed all the potential variables the ocean can dish up ensuring accurate wave height and period readings are available all day.”

How does it work? The Coastalwatch software analyses live video segments from the Snapper Camera to track wave movement through the break zone providing actual wave height and wave period, which is a world first.

Coastalwatch Managing Director Mr Kim Sundell said, “We are very proud to be able to release this product, which is a result of two years of significant research by the team. The difference to other computer generated wave forecasting and measuring models is that our software processes live vision and updates the actual wave height and period every 10 minutes. It is the only system in the world that can provide accurate timely data on near shore wave conditions. This now allows you to track a forecast swell and how it’s trending in real time”

He went on to say “Coastalwatch will roll out this technology on selected cameras on our network and will be looking to take this overseas with other partners.”
For more information:
www.coastalwatch.com/snapper.aspx