The Victoria and Albert Museum is using crowdsourcing to determine the best images, crops and enlargements of items in its online database. [more inside]
posted by paduasoy on Feb 3, 2010 - 11 comments

Surfrider is a nonprofit environmental organization that produces a annual "State of the Beach" (explanation here) report with information about US beach access (public access and private ownership issues), water quality, beach erosion, surfing, links and more. Reports are available for Hawaii, West Coast, Gulf States, Southeast, Mid Atlantic, Puerto Rico, Northeast and Great Lakes. In-depth Water Quality reports for beaches in CA, HI, TX, AL, and parts of FL, as well as results of beach water testing conducted by (or sanctioned by) Surfrider Chapters are also available. There are also Surfrider chapters in: Australia, Brazil, Canada (no website), Europe and Japan. EPA: Beaches is also an excellent resource for information about the condition of US beaches. [via LII New This Week]
posted by mlis on Jun 5, 2005 - 7 comments

Sand circles. A group called Phidelity has been making sand art on the beaches of California with some string, a couple of rakes, and a trowel. Check out photos, and a time lapse video [.mov] of the team at work. Just make sure you check the tides before you start working. [via]
posted by monju_bosatsu on Mar 20, 2005 - 12 comments

Mystery of Plastic Tube Debris is Solved, But Wait ... There's Also Translucent Beads!
Marine debris experts were stumped as to the origin of bluish-gray plastic tubes ranging between 5-10 inches and of uneven width that kept washing up on shores. The website Beachcomber's Alert was no help at all. After the Honolulu Advertiser reported on the phenomenon, the pipes washed up on this Japanese website (English), along with a few other mystery objects. The leads came flooding in; mystery solved!
posted by rschram on Nov 1, 2001 - 9 comments