Kahului Harbor Wave Surge Measurement

Following a series of large wave events that damaged the Hawaii Superferry mooring barge in Kahului Harbor, Sea Engineering was contracted by the operators to provide timely forecasts of wave conditions in the vicinity of the harbor, and to develop a system to measure harbor surge at the mooring barge location. The forecasts and surge measurements were used to decide if conditions in the harbor permitted safe operation. The surge data was correlated with crew operational observations, wave buoy measurements, and numerical wave model forecast output to develop an accurate forecast system for operational harbor conditions. Sea Engineering received the “2009 ASCE Best Small Project Award” for this work.