Field Observations and Numerical Modeling of Infragravity Waves at the Port of Haifa, Israel

Field observations and numerical modeling of infragravity (IG) waves were conducted in support of a major expansion of the Port of Haifa. Field measurements show that the overall energy level of IG waves is similar between stations deployed outside and inside the port, while spectra of IG waves show a clear peak of ~0.01 Hz at the inside-port stations and IG spectra at the outside-port stations are very broad-banded without a predominant peak frequency. A long wave model was developed using a novel approach, by employing a customized filter layer in the surf zone to mimic the short-wave breaking and run-up processes, to reduce the resolution requirement and thus the computational burden by an order of magnitude. The model shows good agreement with measured long-wave height and also reproduces the measured long-wave spectra reasonably well. The model is then used to assess the impact of port expansion layout upon IG wave conditions in the existing port and also to determine the IG waves at the new berths.