SAN DIEGO — What if a day spent surfing could also be a day spent helping scientists? Yes, it’s real.

A team out of the University of California, San Diego, is working on what’s called a Smart Fin, a fin attached to a surfboard with built-in sensors that can record water temperature, location and motion information.

Collecting data from near-shore zones can be a challenge for scientists with traditional methods, such as a buoy not being ideal for turbulent crashing waves and changing tides. The surfboard fin is a fairly inexpensive way to provide scientists data from the surf zone.