1. SAWS storm surge tool and IBF
Dr Christo Rautenbach
Development team:
Mr. Marc de Vos, Ms. Tania Williams,
Mr. Michael Barnes and Dr. Christo Rautenbach

2. What is storm surge?

3. Idai cyclone storm surge impact
2019/10/20

4. Tidal levels and vertical datums
HAT
Storm surge ML
LAT

5. Global tidal levels

6. Tidal characteristics for South Africa
One of the longest standing records of wave measurements around the South
African coasts is situated close to Cape Town. The buoy location has moved
once. From October 1978 to May 1993 it was situated at 18.18oE, oS in
170m water depth and with 72% data coverage. Since then it has been situated
in 100m shallower water at 18.29oE, 34.2oS and with 92% data coverage. Fig. 2
shows the old location (labelled Slangkop) and the new location (labelled Cape
Point). Only since 2000 has consistent directional wave spectra been available.
C. Rautenbach, M. A. Barnes and M. de Vos (2019). Tidal characteristics for South Africa. Deep Sea Research I.

7. What else influences storm surge?
Low atmospheric pressure

8. Model calibration and validation
Journal of Operational Oceanography.

9. Ocean bathymetry and coastline shape

10. Operational protocol

12. Coastal ocean users perceptions, usability and uptake

13. This is where you come in!
We need public user group feed back
This will be done via questioners (possibly online)
Our three target groups will be:
Recreational users (surfers, tourists, beach goers)
Technical users (engineers, coastal managers)
Ocean going users (skippers, ferry operators, port operators)
These groupings are not finalised yet!!
Please contact our Marine coordinator at:

15. Incorporation of risk framework into operational protocol
2019/10/20

16. IBF Ground proof warnings and notifications Searchable database
Institutional memory
Speed up training
Prediction confidence
2019/10/20

17. 2019 research topics Students and interns 1 Post-Doc 6 PhD students
5 MSc students
1 intern
4 NRF research grants – together with partners
We teach selected coastal and wave dynamics post-gradate courses
Wave current interaction on the east coast
AI as forecasting tool
Operational wave run- up modelling
Search and rescue probabilistic modelling
Dense plume dispersion modelling
2019/10/20

18. Thank you for your attention