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GCOOS developed All Things Beaches after two of its main advisory committees — the Products and Services Council and the Outreach and Education Council — identified the need during discussions with stakeholders in Gulf communities who said they wanted an internet-based tool that would bring information about conditions at individual beaches together in a single location.
All Things Beaches does that by collecting beach data from numerous sources, including the National Weather Service (NWS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as a multitude of state and local agencies and compiling it into a single, easily searchable website.
As the Gulf of Mexico regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), GCOOS’s mission is to provide on-demand information about the Gulf’s coastal and open ocean waters that is accurate, reliable and benefits people, ecosystems and the economy. GCOOS is the only federally certified, comprehensive data collection and dissemination center for coastal and ocean data in the Gulf, and it provides data and information free of charge. That means there is no cost to access the information on All Things Beaches.
“The Gulf of Mexico includes hundreds of popular, beautiful coastal beaches,” said GCOOS Executive Director Dr. Jorge Brenner. “But until now, there was no single place where people could find information about a particular beach they were planning to visit. Now, they can use All Things Beaches to see what current beach conditions are as they plan their beach days. While a lot of the data and information we disseminate is designed for researchers and resource managers, GCOOS is committed to providing the tools and information that Gulf coast residents and visitors can use to make decisions as they live, work and play in our coastal communities.”
All Things Beaches was created by GCOOS GIS Developer Hannah Dillahunt.
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