Aims and Objectives

A comprehensive field measurement campaign was carried out along the Jumeirah coast in 1997. This data is supplemented with additional data now being collected as part of a continuous coastal monitoring programme started in 2002. Features of the monitoring programme include:

• regular topographic and bathymetric surveys, including hydrographic light imaging detection and ranging surveys (LIDAR),
• remote video monitoring of Dubai beaches,
• satellite image analysis,
• sediment sampling and analysis,
• nearshore directional wave recordings,
• nearshore current measurement exercises at selected locations using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP's), 
• water quality monitoring in conjunction with the DM Environment Department.

Captured monitoring data are used to:

• develop our understanding of the processes at work in the Dubai coastal zone,
• identify areas of significant coastline erosion or accretion,
• assess the impacts of coastal developments along the Dubai shoreline and improve the calibration and verification of the numerical models set up as planning tools for the region.