The response of the beach to prevailing oceanographic and meteorological conditions is being established in a number of ways.

One novel approach is the mounting of two video cameras on the Burj al Arab Hotel on Jumeirah Beach. These will record water levels and the associated movement of the beach for five minutes every hour; complex processing produces a series of images that can be directly related to more conventional measurement methods at the Jumeirah Beach location.

Other methods to be used by the JV include real-time measurements of winds, waves, tides and currents by a range of systems, including an acoustic Doppler current profiler, seabed-mounted Doppler wave measuring instruments, pressure transducer and a meteorological station.

In addition, the dynamics of the shoreline are being monitored by six-monthly offshore bathymetric surveys along pre-set profile lines and by land-based topographic studies with backpack-mounted RTK GPS for positioning control. All the data is linked to a near real-time web site.

The EmuDome joint venture has a permanent survey team, with survey vessel, based in Dubai to meet the requirements of this and other contracts in the Middle East.