Swim Currents Forecast : Waikīkī, Oʻahu

Waikīkī is one of the premier beach destinations with millions of visitors and swimmers each year. Regular swimmers traverse the coastline enjoying the beautiful scenery and protection from large waves provided by corals. Based on PacIOOS’ ocean circulation model, the animation below shows the predicted currents around Waikīkī for the next few days. Each morning, virtual drifters are deployed offshore of the New Otani Hotel to estimate which direction floating particles are moving. These drifters are shown below in black. The 2-day prediction uses the 40-m Waikīkī Ocean Circulation Forecast model while the 5-day prediction uses a coarser 1-km Oʻahu Ocean Circulation Forecast model.

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Swim Current Forecast Animation

The offline passive tracer transport tool from Xavier Capet is used to calculate the trajectories in this animation. These model data were generated as part of an academic research project, and the principal investigator, Dr. Brian Powell, asks to be informed of intent for scientific use and appropriate acknowledgment given in any publications arising therefrom. The data are provided free of charge, without warranty of any kind.