Dubai: Dubai Municipality has launched Dubai Smart Coast System for the presentation of the Dubai Maritime Database and Maritime Forecasting System.
The system, a revamp of the Dubai Coast website which has been operating since 2003, was launched during the Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Monday. A mobile app of Dubai Smart Coast will be available to the public early May.
Alia Al Harmoudi, Director of Environment Department, said the site aims to serve various segments of the community, who use beaches and marine waters such as swimmers, fishermen, shipping companies, marine transport companies, contractors and competent local authorities.
Services and applications of the new smart system include data collection of current marine monitoring system and marine forecasting and early warning system.
By registering their details on www.dubaicoast.dm.gov.ae, the public will get alerts about marine warnings from the municipality.
“The site provides its users with marine forecasts of wind speed, wave condition, water level, temperature and salinity. The marine forecasting system, which consists of a coherent set of digital models of weather, water and wave movement, has been developed to work together to predict marine conditions,” pointed out Al Harmoudi.
The system is now able to update its forecasts every 12 hours for the next three days, twice a day instead of once every 24 hours as was the case previously. It also sends out automatic alerts about disturbance in sea.
“The Dubai Coast website also displays live images updated every 30 minutes through a chain of 33 beach cameras installed along the emirate’s coastline, which operates round-the-clock to monitor the entire Dubai coastal area. Camera images are also used to analyse coastline changes, the impact of the northerly storms, to analyse the locations of tug-currents, and provide statistics on the number of beach visitors,” said Al Harmoudi.
Another highlight is an interactive map displaying marine monitoring stations and any data for the next three days’ marine conditions for any point in the Dubai coastal area or in the Arabian Gulf.
The interactive map also includes an app to forecast the pathways of oil spills and another app to predict the high tidal waves that cause flooding and their effects on surrounding lands if they occur.
All details pertaining to beaches in Dubai are available on the Dubai Public Beach page.
“New types of forecasted data for the user, such as heat and salinity of marine waters, were also made available, as well as current data such as wave height, water level rise and wind speed,” added Al Harmoudi.
