URI Graduate School of Oceanography

16h

🌊 7 GSO community members are aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson in the South Pacific, northeast of New Zealand’s North Island, exploring one of the ocean’s deepest regions: Roy Gilboa, Tim Burbank, Pat Kelly, Megan Schwinden, GSO Professor David Smith, Victor Kern, and GSO Professor Arthur Spivack.

What's in my bag: oceanographer edition. 🌊 What did we forget? ⬇️

🦪 Where are the quahogs? Quahog landings in Rhode Island have declined by 70% since 2012. A new story in ecoRI News takes a deep dive into what’s behind the decline, bringing together perspectives from local shellfishermen and scientists, including #URIGSO professor emerita Candace Oviatt.

buff.lyAre Rhode Island's Beloved Quahogs Disappearing? Shellfishermen Think So. - ecoRI NewsWild quahogs have all but vanished from lower Narragansett Bay, with most of the state clam population now in Greenwich Bay, upper Narragansett Bay, and the lower Providence River.

Oviatt has spent decades studying nitrogen levels in Narragansett Bay & their effects on shellfish. While reducing nitrogen pollution has improved water quality, her research suggests that quahogs in the upper bay may have less food available to them at certain times of year. 📖: buff.ly/CvfdCch

Happy #NationalFossilDay! 🪸 Take a closer look at this coral specimen from #URIGSO's Marine Geological Samples Laboratory. Identified as Desmophyllum, a genus of stony coral, its intricate skeleton features ridges called septa that radiate outward from the center of each cup.

buff.lyMarine Geological Samples LaboratoryThe Marine Geological Samples Laboratory (MGSL) of the Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO), University of Rhode Island is one of four NSF funded sample repositories (MGSL, LDCR, WHOI SSL, and…

Corals are marine animals that build hard skeletons from calcium carbonate. When preserved in the fossil record, coral skeletons can offer clues about ancient marine environments and how ocean conditions have changed over time. Explore more from the MGSL: buff.ly/VtQTWJ7

What’s it like to pilot an underwater robot? 🤖 Undergraduates in #URIGSO Professor Roxanne Beinart’s Deep-Sea Biology (OCG 420) class are getting hands-on experience during visits to URI’s Bay Campus, exploring the Ocean Robotics Lab and Inner Space Center.

Students operated the manipulator arm used on ROV Rhody & piloted ROV Little Rhody in the test tank. The class also connected live with #URIGSO alum Andria Miller, M.S. ’23, aboard the E/V Nautilus, where she was serving as a Science Communication Fellow on an expedition to the Hawaiian Islands.

From operating ocean technology to connecting with scientists at sea, these experiences introduce undergraduates to the research, facilities, and career paths they can explore at GSO and beyond! 🌊

buff.lyReading the ocean’s snowflakes: How AI decodes marine snowGSO Research Professor Melissa Omand leads NSF-funded project testing whether underwater images can reveal the chemical composition of marine snow

#URIGSO's Melissa Omand is using AI to uncover the chemical makeup of “marine snow,” tiny particles that drift through the ocean. The team is collecting images & physical samples across four regions: coastal Ghana, the equatorial Atlantic, the New England shelf, & the California Current.

In collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the University of Ghana, the team collected samples from two of these sites last summer. Photos show University of Ghana researchers pulling samples and recovering a sediment trap array!

dlvr.itNOAA’s Atlantic fleet command moves to Newport in January; Reed tours $147M complex at Naval Station" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/whatsupnewp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Reed_NOAA-Newport-Visit_10.8.26-2.png?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1" /> The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Operations Center–Atlantic is scheduled to be fully operational at Naval Station Newport by the end of January 2027, completing a move from Norfolk, Virginia, that U.S. Sen. Jack Reed spent more than a decade working to secure. Reed, D-R.I., toured the nearly completed $147 million waterfront complex Thursday, […] The post NOAA’s Atlantic fleet command moves to Newport in January; Reed tours $147M complex at Naval Station appeared first on What's Up Newp.

"Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee, has pointed to the station’s proximity to the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography as part of the case for the move." 💪 🌊

What’sUpNewp@whatsupnewp.com

NOAA’s Atlantic fleet command moves to Newport in January; Reed tours $147M complex at Naval Station

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Elin Torell on her new role as Interim Director of GSO Research! Part of the URI community since 2002, she most recently served as director of the Coastal Institute & PI of the NSF-funded Rhode Island Network for Excellence in Science and Technology (RI-NEST).

🌊 Meet R/V Warfish! A traditional 45-foot Downeast-style lobster boat, Warfish is equipped for coastal oceanography & supports research throughout Narragansett Bay & the Sounds. Today, Warfish hosted a demonstration of AUV acoustic navigation & tracking off Jamestown, sponsored by NOAA OECI.

buff.lyWhat Does It Take to Get that Oyster on Your Plate? Specialized Gear, Hard Work - ecoRI NewsWater quality and type of gear, among other factors, decide what that oyster on your plate tastes like.

🦪 A new @ecorinews.bsky.social story featuring insight from two GSO-connected experts, Jacque Rosa & Robbie Hudson, takes a closer look at RI’s oyster farming industry, from the gear farmers use to the push-and-pull between aquaculture and other coastal uses. 🌊 🦑 ➡️ buff.ly/nVOgqXc

URI's Deep Autonomous Profiler (DAP) is a lander/water-column profiler that collects measurements & samples from the deep ocean. It can measure temperature, salinity, oxygen, & density; capture video; record sound; & collect water samples throughout the water column or while resting on the seafloor.

#URIGSO researchers & their collaborators aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson are using these measurements to investigate how water moves through the Kermadec Trench, northeast of New Zealand, and how oxygenated water is renewed in one of the deepest, under-explored environments on Earth. 🌊

This week, #URIGSO hosted URI research administrators on the Narragansett Bay Campus. These professionals support faculty research in myriad ways, so it was great to show them firsthand how their crucial work makes ocean research, exploration, and discovery possible.

🎣 From Fish Trawl Assistant to the leadership of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center Narragansett Laboratory: Meet #URIGSO alum Anna Mercer ’15, Ph.D., whose career has been built on collaboration and communication. 🌊 Read Anna’s story & how GSO shaped her career: buff.ly/dI2RGEb

As a #URIGSO student, Mercer spent two years as the weekly Fish Trawl Assistant aboard the Cap’n Bert. Today, she serves as chief of NOAA’s Cooperative Research Branch and director of the Narragansett Laboratory, where she leads research that brings scientists and the fishing community together.

🦞It's #NationalLobsterDay! Through collaboration with the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, #URIGSO students get to spend time offshore with local fishermen, collecting data on American lobster & contributing to research that helps us better understand/steward this important marine resource.

Here are just a few of the lobsters they've seen over the last field season! For the graduate students involved, it’s an early-morning, hands-on, and often challenging experience...but also a unique way to see science, policy, and the fishing industry intersect at sea. 🌊 ➡️ buff.ly/KMJdr2y

Congrats to Dr. Colleen Mouw on her new role as Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at #URIGSO! Dr. Mouw earned both her M.S. & Ph.D. in Oceanography here & has been a faculty member for the past decade. She previously served as both Acting Dean & Associate Dean of the URI Graduate School.

URI Graduate School of Oceanography reposted

Anna Schrecengost

@annaschreck.bsky.social

Check out eukCHARMer, the new tool coming out of the Beinart Lab @symbiosisrox.bsky.social @urigso.bsky.social !! github.com/aschrecengos... (1/5)

🌊 🌀 What can more than 60 years of beach survey data tell us about coastal change in RI? With a nor’easter coming this weekend, it’s a timely question. Since 1962, #URIGSO researchers have monitored beaches along our southern coast, documenting shoreline change and how they respond to severe storms.

GSO's J.P. Walsh & Mary Klimasewiski have brought this extensive dataset together in Rhode Island Beach Dynamics Over Decades, a new interactive website that incorporates monitoring data contributed by the URI Environmental Data Center, URI Department of Geosciences, & Eastern CT State University.

buff.lyMore than 60 years of beach survey data reveal extent of shoreline erosionNew website developed by URI researchers illustrates impact of nor’easters and hurricanes over decades

🔗 Read the story and explore the website: buff.ly/dlTZfJx

🌧️ ☹️ UPDATE: Due to the strong nor’easter forecast to impact Rhode Island this weekend, we made the difficult decision to postpone Science Saturday. We're sad that we won’t see lots of smiling ocean fans this Saturday, but look forward to welcoming you to our campus soon. Stay tuned for updates!

16 Sept

When your undergraduate research assistantship sends you to remote Alaska... 🏔️🌊 For URI undergraduate Lilah Saunders, working as a research assistant in #URIGSO Professor Erin Peck’s MUD Lab meant an unforgettable fieldwork experience alongside a team of researchers in Alaska.

kachemakbayreserve.orgPartnership with Sediment Core Researchers Elevates KBNERR Salt Marsh Monitoring - Kachemak Bay Research ReserveKBNERR and ACCS staff partnered with Alaska Salt Marsh Consortium to survey Fox River Flats and Beluga Slough.

16 Sept

Over the summer, Lilah joined a team that collected sediment cores and measured geomorphic parameters along transects through salt marshes in Kachemak Bay. Read more from KBNERR: kachemakbayreserve.org/partnership-...

URI Graduate School of Oceanography reposted

Possibly

@askpossibly.bsky.social

15 Sept

On this week's episode, researcher Emmanuel Oyewole at @urigso.bsky.social explains to Possibly that offshore wind turbines appear to be providing new ecosystems for Jonah crabs. Find out more wherever you get your podcasts or at the link below. www.oceanstatemedia.org/possibly/202...

oceanstatemedia.orgAre offshore wind turbines helping New England’s crab population?Researcher Emmanuel Oyewole explains to Possibly that offshore wind turbines appear to be providing new ecosystems for Jonah crabs

buff.lyAre offshore wind turbines helping New England’s crab population? - TPR: The Public's RadioResearcher Emmanuel Oyewole explains to Possibly that offshore wind turbines appear to be providing new ecosystems for Jonah crabs.

15 Sept

🔉 This morning on @oceanstatemedia.bsky.social Possibly Podcast, #URIGSO student Emmanuel Oyewole discusses his research exploring how offshore wind projects affect Jonah crab populations and what the findings could mean for Rhode Island’s fisheries. 🌊 🦑 @askpossibly.bsky.social ➡️ buff.ly/FFf5SRH

🌊 Check out the length of this deep-sea sponge! Spotted by the ROVs aboard E/V Nautilus more than 4,700 meters below the surface in the southwest region of the Wake Island EEZ, this Caulophacus glass sponge is home to several deep-sea associates. 🦑 🧪

And there’s a #URIGSO connection! 🔈 Rob Pockalny, marine research scientist at GSO and lead scientist for the current NA181 expedition to Wake Island’s deep sea, was on the Nautilus Live stream when the team made this discovery. 🔗 Watch the stream: buff.ly/8qyfesf

#Throwback to #URIGSO's first boat burning, September 1964! ⛵️🔥 M.S. student Donald Gordon owned an old sailboat, the Osprey, which was beyond repair. He offered it to the #URIGSO Chowder and Marching Society for a bonfire at a picnic they were hosting to welcome new students.

The event, held down the hill from the Fish Building, unexpectedly sparked a beloved tradition that continues to this day! The 62nd Annual Boat Burning will be held this weekend.

9 Sept

The fall 2026 semester is officially underway🐏 🌊 💙 Happy first day of classes! We’re excited for another year of learning, research, and community on the URI Bay Campus. 🌊

8 Sept

🌊 #URIGSO marine researcher Mary Klimaszewski and Professor J.P. Walsh are proud to support @Orchard and the NOAA Marine Debris Program with the first nationwide marine debris survey! ➡️ Learn more about the survey here: buff.ly/atrwaDu

4 Sept

Friday check-in! 🦀 On a scale of seafloor invertebrates, how are you feeling today? Drop your number below 👇 📸 Photo credit: NOAA Digital Archives

3 Sept

🌊 The Synergy Project returns to Studio Blue at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus with Environmental Currents: Art and Science Explore Our Changing World. The new exhibition brings together artwork inspired by research from #URIGSO, URI CELS, and WHOI. Read more: buff.ly/gCp2IB1

2 Sept

🌾 Pairing Louisiana’s deltaic wetlands with Rhode Island’s salt marshes, a new project seeks to compare wetland resilience across the two states. URI recently received a $4 million NSF grant to co-lead a collaboration with LSU to improve coastal wetland management in both states.

buff.lyBay to bayou: URI co-leads $4 million NSF grant to advance wetland restoration in Rhode Island and LouisianaURI is co-leading a collaboration with Louisiana State University to improve coastal wetland management in both states.

2 Sept

Ying Zhang, URI professor of cell and molecular biology, is the project’s lead PI. Co-PIs are Erin Peck of #URIGSO, Julia Wyman of Roger Williams University, Hui Zhou of URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, & #URIGSO alum Kenneth Raposa ’93, ’97, ’00 of the RIDEM. ➡️ buff.ly/A5kxO8s

31 Aug

#URIGSO hosted an exciting youth advocacy training workshop with Sea Youth & World Ocean Day! Young RI ocean leaders from The Ocean Project's inaugural Ocean State Rising Youth Advisory Board gathered on the Bay Campus to learn effective communication strategies & how to engage with decision-makers.

28 Aug

The best part of Science Saturday? Ocean science in action! 🌊🧪🐙 Meet the researchers studying our ocean and coasts, see the equipment they use, and learn about marine exploration, discovery, science, and management through interactive activities and exhibits.

buff.lyScience Saturday 2026Save the Date: September 26, 2026 We look forward to welcoming the public to the URI Narragansett Bay Campus for a day full of exhibits, tours and conversations centered on marine exploration,…

28 Aug

Join us for a free, family-friendly day of discovery along the shores of Narragansett Bay on September 26! Learn more and register: buff.ly/61QTV4X

25 Aug

🌊 From the Bay Campus to the middle of the Pacific! The URI Undergraduate Admission team recently visited the Bay Campus and got a firsthand glimpse of what it’s like to do ocean science at sea through a special ship-to-shore interaction hosted by the URI Inner Space Center.

21 Aug

🐟 Mystery catch! Can you name this rare species, caught this week during #URIGSO’s Fish Trawl Survey? For 60 years, GSO researchers have trawled Narragansett Bay to track the seasonal occurrences of migratory fish populations, and every once in a while, a warm-water visitor like this one turns up.

24 Aug

If you said dwarf goatfish, you are correct! This species is usually found in warmer waters like the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic. In Narragansett Bay, it's considered an uncommon seasonal or accidental stray driven north by warming currents or Gulf Stream eddies.

20 Aug

🌊🏊 A Bay Campus tradition lives on: The 47th Dutch Island Swim! On Tuesday, 70 #URIGSO graduates, faculty, staff, students, & friends took to the water, setting out from the beach at the bottom of South Ferry Road for a 1-mile swim across the West Passage of Narragansett Bay to Dutch Island.