Poipu Beach Improvements

Poipu Beach Park is approximately 5.7 acres of beach front property owned by the County of Kauai and located on the south shore of the island. The County Department of Parks and Recreation is interested in restoring and improving the beach at Poipu Beach Park. Sea Engineering completed a comprehensive coastal engineering and field investigation of the beach to evaluate improvement alternatives. Work included:

• Topographic surveys – beach changes were measured by five profile studies over the course of a year;
• Wave and current measurement – two Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP’s) were deployed for three months offshore of the beach park, measuring both currents and waves.
• Water quality and marine biological surveys;
• Numerical wave modeling– including a hindcast analysis of the site wave climate, and numerical wave modeling of the existing site wave conditions;
• Summary of coastal processes, beach design parameters and beach improvement recommendations, including beach nourishment;
• Offshore sand survey including side scan sonar and subbottom profiler surveys, vibracoring, grab sampling, and sample grain size analysis.