A new system for breakzone location and the measurement of breaking wave heights and periods

This paper presents a new system for measuring breakzone locations, breaking wave height and wave periods across the surfzone from a digital video sequence. The system (Wave Pack) aims to provide real-time measurement of breaking and re-breaking wave heights and wave periods using low mounted video camera installations. Following on site data collection and analysis it was found that the Wave Pack system provides a low cost, robust, reliable and accurate system for measuring continuous wave height and period from a low elevation video camera aimed at the target beach under a wide range of wave conditions. These tests have verified the accuracy of Wave Pack in comparison to existing systems.