WireWall: a new approach to coastal wave hazard monitoring

WireWall will be the first agile in situ system to make field measurements of overtopping on a wave-by-wave basis. Such data will enable site-specific calibration of (i) numerical tools used in sea defence design, (ii) flood forecasting models and (iii) public safety tolerances used by shoreline managers. The new approach transfers existing laboratory and offshore wave monitoring capabilities to the problem of coastal hazard monitoring. The capacitance wire system will collect high frequency field data to quantify wave overtopping velocity and volume. Our approach will replace the use of water collection tanks, which provide very limited information, are cumbersome, and hence rarely deployed. The method will use a coupled modelling-observational-modelling approach. Industry standard overtopping tools will generate a numerical dataset of plausible overtopping conditions at our study site Crosby (NW England). This data will inform the configuration of the wire units to be used in dockside and flume tests prior to the design of the field rig. The newly collected field observations will allow site-specific calibration and validation of the numerical tools, which will then be applied for a range of storm and beach conditions to develop site-specific overtopping safety tolerances and identify overtopping trigger levels for the existing sea wall.