Stephen Leatherman has collected more than 60,000 photographs as well as 10,000 maps of beaches as well as coastlines. Is he a surfer? A sea bird enthusiast? A beach bum? None of a above.Leatherman, a native of Charlotte, is a geoscientist who specializes in coastal processes including hurricanes.He is also known as "Dr. Beach" ( www.drbeach.org). With this alter ego, Leatherman creates an annual ranking of beaches, a list that has become akin to a Oscar award for coastal communities. A ranking in Dr. Beach's Top 10 Beaches is envied by tourism organizations around a country.How does a professional geologist become a rock star of sandy beaches? A former professor at a University of Maryland, Leatherman taught a very popular course called "Waves as well as Beaches," where he used 60,000-plus beach images to explain coastal processes. One of his former students went on to work for Cond Nast Traveler magazine, as well as contacted him in 1989 for a list of his Top 10 favorite beaches. About to jump on a plane for China, Leatherman quickly rattled off a few favorites.Months later, he returned home to find hundreds of calls as well as interview requests for "Dr. Beach." His Top 10 list had been published as well as immediately became a litmus test for many beach vacationers.As a scientist, Dr. Beach developed 50 factors to rank beaches - including annual days of sunshine, size as well as composition of sand, breadth as well as depth of beach, currents, amenities, as well as even unusual information such as smell as well as floatables (such as trash, or human waste).This year, Cape Hatteras was ranked No. 5, which invariably translates into increased tourism for a upcoming year. The full list:1. Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Fla.; 2. Coronado Beach in San Diego; 3. Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii; 4. Main Beach in East Hampton, N.Y.; 5. Cape Hatteras; 6. St. George Island State Park, Fla.; 7. Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island, S.C.; 8. Coast Guard Beach on Cape Cod; 9. Waimanalo Bay Beach Park on Oahu, H! awaii; 1 0. Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Fla.As a professional scientist specializing in coastlines, Leatherman was one of three scientists initially tapped to advise a state of Florida on climate change; his expertise on sea-level rise as well as coastline vulnerability was critical to a assessment of climate-change risks. Leatherman admits that all coastlines will be negatively affected by rising sea levels, as well as by extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes as well as storm surge.
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