FRF HOME
ABOUT US

SWAN Wave Model

WIS NATIONAL
WAVE HINDCASTS

STORMS
BATHYMETRY
CTD

NEARSHORE
EXPERIMENTS
 SANDYDUCK '97
 DUCK94
 DELILAH '90

PROJECTS
 DARE COUNTY, NC
 CAPE FEAR, NC
 BRUNSWICK, GA

WEBMASTER

DISCLAIMER

Nearshore Video Imaging System

Camera Views: C0 through C6
C5
Camera5 (N)
N
 C0
Camera0 (NNE)
NNE
 C3
Camera3 (NE)
NE
 C1
Camera1 (E)
E
 C4
Camera4 (SE)
SE
 C2
Camera2 (SSE)
SSE
 C6
Camera6 (S)
S

FTP link
to past images.
VISSER Project
composite images.
 The VISSER project uses Argus video images
to make quantative nearshore measurements
High resolution video cameras are mounted on the top of the 43 m tall (141 ft) FRF observation Tower. Camera C0 faces NNE, C1 faces E (offshore), C2 faces SSE, C3 faces NE, C4 faces SE, C5 faces N, and C6 faces S. Each image has GCP's (ground control points) which are used to determine the camera's orientation relative to the ground topography. The most noticeable GCP's are three disks from camera C0.

These GCP's allow for a photogrammetric transformations of image coordinates to ground coordinates. Thus, time sequences of these images can be used to monitor changes in sand bar morphology or shoreline position and potentially other variables. Also, these cameras are used to collect data on horizontal distributions of wave-breaking and shoreline movement. One application of these systems is the imaging of the sandbar location as it effects wave breaking.

Each camera takes a snapshot (*snap.jpg) and a 10 minute time-averaged image (*timex.jpg) every hour. Timex are created by averaging 600 frames taken once per second. These images are useful at revealing the underlying morphology as waves break over the submerged sandbars. The 10 minute averaging serves to smooth out variations in wave dissipation (white water) due to wave groups. File names contain the date, time, camera, and image type information. These file names come in two formats, a "long" name and a "very long" name. For example:

  • "10Aug2001_1120EST_c2_timex.jpg"     is a timex image from camera c2 on 10 Aug 2001 at 1120 EST.
  • "997442437.Fri.Aug.10_16_20_36.GMT.2001.argus02a.c2.timex.jpg"     is the same image with the time (16:20:36) listed as GMT (5 hours ahead of EST), the first number indicates the epoch time, and argus02a identifies the Duck Argus station.

This video technique was developed by Dr. Rob Holman of the Coastal Imaging Lab in the Oceanography Department of Oregon State University. Mr. Kent Hathaway is the FRF video expert.