Read the source date
The current map uses collected SEMAR bulletins with their original issue dates. A later download or source check does not make an old report current. Relative forecast hours start in the source, not when you open the map.
Seasonal beach outlooks
Plan up to 18 months ahead using usual relative amounts, coastal exposure and qualified reports from a similar time of year. Source reliability controls influence. Shared articles count as one underlying source; a recent but unreliable photo cannot overrule trustworthy evidence simply because it is new.
Our current research distinguishes 38 beach-specific tendencies; remaining beaches use available geography and regional seasonal context. These are low-confidence relative estimates, not calibrated probabilities. Current alerts and weather are excluded from future seasonal outlooks. Historical report counts and years remain visible, including missing coverage.
The source review includes firsthand travel reports, local comparative knowledge, regional reporting and institutional seasonal context. Storm exceptions and limited island frontage coverage remain attached to each claim.
- Cestee: firsthand May 2026 beach comparisons
- Journey Mexico: regional accumulation and cleanup context
- CasaSandra: Holbox tendencies, secondary reporting
- Mayan Beaches: seasonal context
- Complete reviewed claims, limitations and source lineage
What is known about this beach?
Start with dated public reports and environmental context. Add stronger, more local evidence as it becomes available. The map keeps the source, time and uncertainty visible; a regional report is not a confirmed beach condition.
Separate signal from confirmation
Satellite detections and wind, current or wave context can inform a provisional estimate. An external forecast stays attributed to its publisher. We have not established a calibrated BeachSignal forecast.
Respect the actual beach
Nearby beaches can differ because of orientation, currents, shelter, reefs, barriers and cleanup. Distance or a shared city name alone cannot transfer a condition from one frontage to another.
Sources first
Inspect collected regional reports, their named arrival statements and reported wind/current context. Every catalogued beach has a rough estimate labelled Low confidence; local conditions remain unconfirmed. The latest recorded source check is shown separately from the retained bulletin; it is not a live availability guarantee.
Public social posts, webcams, satellites and contributors can all add useful evidence when their time, place, provenance and permitted use are established. The source research page distinguishes tested access from operational ingestion and public reuse.
Stronger local confirmation, gradually
Public contributions are a gradual post-launch addition, not required to use source information. One photo completes a contribution; extra photos are optional for visitors and operators.
Fresh in-app capture can provide stronger local evidence after capture, time, location and review checks. EXIF alone is not verification. Several photos from one visit, a repost or another analysis do not create independent confirmation. No photo publishes a condition by itself.
Ground-confirmation condition definitions
These definitions govern reviewed ground conditions, not a regional alert or every provisional signal. The existing protected publication path has a six-hour ground-evidence display window; external reports keep their own time and validity. This does not activate public conditions.
- Clear
- The protected ground-evidence policy requires at least two independent accepted capture sessions on the same versioned segment. One photo or a regional forecast cannot establish Clear.
- Light
- Scattered strands or small patches without a continuous waterline band.
- Moderate
- A partly continuous band or multiple material patches across the frontage.
- Heavy
- Broad or dense accumulation across the waterline or nearshore view.
- Unknown
- No applicable, current beach evidence supports a condition. Missing data does not mean clear water.
One Terra account. More than one use for evidence.
Planned shared capabilities connect accounts, saved places and contribution history across Terra products. Sargassum Check and a future Surf Check should use the same account and compatible observations, not require another signup, upload or detector run for each purpose.
One permitted photo can support several analyses. Applicable permissions, source provenance, uncertainty and corrections travel with that reuse; each product makes its own decision. Shared login and cross-product media processing are not available yet. Anonymous source discovery remains available without an account.
Privacy, correction and release safeguards
- Original contribution media stays private. Public derivatives need applicable rights, privacy processing and review; analysis permission is not display or training permission.
- Unknown storage outcomes stay uncertain. They do not authorize automatic retry, deletion or a successful receipt.
- Source corrections, expired evidence and withdrawn rights must be reflected in affected decisions. An unchanged file hash does not extend permission or validity.
- Public contribution access, accountable review, abuse protection and contributor controls require their own release checks. They are not prerequisites for reading attributed source information.
- Reliability comes before advertising. Commercial relationships must not change estimates, evidence ordering or beach recommendations.