🦞💙 Happy #NationalLobsterDay! Meet the star of the Ann Gall Durbin Aquarium on the University of Rhode Island's Bay Campus: a rare blue lobster, found in the wild in about one in two million! 🦑 🌊

Also read about this on Tom's blog! 🌊 mrtomsblog.com/instruments/

In the early 1980s, #RVEndeavor supported a series of cruises led by #URIGSO professor Tom Rossby to study the Gulf Stream. Using an instrument called Pegasus, researchers measured currents from the surface to the seafloor with centimeter-per-second accuracy. 🚢 🌊

🌎 From researching South Atlantic circulation during her doctoral studies at #URIGSO to documenting severe marine heatwaves to helping organize COP30 in Brazil, Regina Rodrigues, Ph.D. ’04, has built a career dedicated to climate science and the Global South.

Thank you to the #RVEndeavor crew for your service, from the shipboard to the maintenance, you served our project graciously. We will miss you!

🧪🌊 R/V Endeavor, so central to the @urigso.bsky.social mission, returned home one last time, closing out 49 remarkable years of seagoing research with well-earned cheers for an amazing ship and crew. Is the ship's retirement a hint of broader things to come?

Welcome home, #RVEndeavor! 🚢 💙 After nearly five decades at sea, URI's research vessel is back from its final cruise. #ThankYouEndeavor #EndeavorForever #NSFFunded

🌊🚢 Just weeks after arriving at URI in 1976, #RVEndeavor was thrust into action. On December 15, the tanker Argo Merchant ran aground off Nantucket, spilling more than 7.7 million gallons of oil into the ocean, one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history.

🌊 🐌 #URIGSO's @symbiosisrox.bsky.social recently joined the #MattersMicrobial podcast with @markowenmartin.bsky.social to discuss how some marine creatures use bacterial symbioses to provide organic compounds for growth and reproduction. ➡️ Watch the conversation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mERR...

🌊 Join us in welcoming the new Director of the Inner Space Center, Dr. Nicole Raineault! Nicole comes to us from the Florida Institute of Oceanography, where she helped develop telepresence capabilities into an ROV-equipped vessel & shoreside facility as Associate Director of Research & Technology.

🚢 🍾 December 11, 1976 — #RVEndeavor's Christening Just weeks after its arrival on the URI Bay Campus, Endeavor was officially christened at the GSO pier. With hundreds of spectators in attendance, Nuala Pell, wife of Senator Claiborne Pell, broke the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow.

⭐ This summer, SURFO student Brooklyn Harvey worked with NOAA’s Cooperative Research Branch at the Narragansett Lab, focusing on the Northern Shortfin Squid. Under the guidance of a mentor, Brooklyn dissected squid specimens, collected data, & analyzed observations using NOAA exploration portals. 🦑

I am really looking forward to this conversation with journalists, led by the amazing @metcalfuri.bsky.social.

For University of Rhode Island ocean engineering student Jake Bonney, remotely operated vehicles keep him anchored to the sea, even as he navigates his own uncharted waters.

🌊 Block Island is now officially designated as the newest Climate Response Demonstration Site through a partnership with URI’s Coastal Institute. This long-term collaboration strengthens coastal resilience by protecting land, water, and livelihoods.

On September 6th, alumni, faculty, students, staff, and friends of #URIGSO gathered to honor the legacy of the late Dr. John Knauss, visionary marine scientist and founding dean of GSO.

My Wisconsinite-to-Oceanographer roots are starting to make sense. Not only was the R/V Endeavor constructed there, but Alvin's titanium sphere was forged by Ladish Forging in Cudahy, WI. I mean- standing at the shore- Lake Michigan and Superior do "seem" like oceans. 🧀⛴️

🚢 After nearly 50 years of service, #RVEndeavor is preparing for retirement. 🎉 Join us October 4–5 on URI’s Bay Campus for a special chance to step aboard and tour this iconic research vessel one final time. Don’t miss your opportunity to celebrate its legacy! ➡️ Register: buff.ly/O9Fci3V

⏪🚢 Built by Peterson Builders, Inc., in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1975, #RVEndeavor was one of three intermediate-class research vessels commissioned by the NSF. At 185 feet, it was designed from the keel up for oceanographic work, a floating laboratory built to advance exploration and discovery.

🌊🚢 Update @ #EN736, #RVEndeavor's final cruise: Off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland, the science team is assessing the ecological impacts of oil & gas activities by collecting water/sediment samples around decommissioned wells to compare ecosystem conditions w/ those of nearby control sites.

#WhereInTheWorldIsGSO 📍 Howland & Baker Islands, Central Pacific #URIGSO's Lexie DelViscio is aboard @nautiluslive.org as a Seafloor Mapping intern! The team is mapping previously unsurveyed seafloor surrounding the Howland and Baker Islands, located roughly midway between Hawaiʻi and New Zealand 🌊

🌊🌀 September marks the start of peak hurricane season & #NationalPreparednessMonth! This year, NOAA is forecasting above-normal activity in the Atlantic basin, w/ conditions already seen from Hurricane Erin. Even 100's of miles offshore, Erin brought powerful waves & coastal impacts to New England.

🚢 This week, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the most iconic discoveries in ocean exploration, the wreck of the #RMSTitanic. On September 1, 1985, #URIGSO alum & Professor Emeritus Bob Ballard, Ph.D. ’74, and his team located the shipwreck 70+ years after it sank in the North Atlantic.

Check out my colleague’s feature in #mattersmicrobial! @symbiosisrox.bsky.social @urigso.bsky.social @universityofri.bsky.social #GoRhody!

🌊 Meet #URIGSO alum Gaby Espino (Online M.O. ’24) — a Seafloor Mapper and ROV Navigator aboard @nautiluslive.org From mapping underwater volcanoes in American Samoa to collaborating with Pacific Island communities, Gaby is part of the first teams to ever see these deep-sea ecosystems.

🚢 For 49 years, #RVEndeavor has been a cornerstone of ocean science, carrying researchers across the globe from its home port at URI's Bay Campus. This week, the ship departed on its final cruise, focused on the long-term impacts of oil & gas extraction on ecosystems along the Atlantic coast. 🌊

Bon voyage to our lab member Katie Stone on the very last @urigso.bsky.social R/V Endeavor cruise! As the sole URI scientist aboard, Katie is the last URI scientist to sail on this historic vessel that began its work in 1976.

🌊🏊 A Bay Campus tradition lives on! Last week marked the 46th Dutch Island Swim, where members and friends of our Bay Campus community set 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.

⚠️ 🌊 Yesterday, #URIGSO's J.P. Walsh shared what to expect as #HurricaneErin moved up the East Coast. We saw high water levels last night & this morning with the spring high tides. High water levels & wave energy are expected to create coastal impacts like beach/dune erosion at tonight's high tide.

⭐ SURFO Spotlight⭐ This summer, SURFO student Chariot Waddell worked under the mentorship of #URIGSO's Mingxi Zhou and Lin Zhao to develop 3D maps that integrate above and below-water data, using LIDAR and Multibeam sonar collected from the WAMV autonomous surface vehicle.

Our summer transect cruise is on track! We can't wait to see all of the data and wave photos. Any unusual Hemiaulus blooms? Nice to get it all done before Erin "goes safely out to sea". #nsf @uslter.bsky.social @whoi.edu @urigso.bsky.social @wellesley.edu @noaa.gov

🌊 How did freshened water end up beneath the New England Shelf miles offshore? #URIGSO prof. Rebecca Robinson is working to answer that question with sediment samples collected from three sites off Nantucket as one of three chief scientists leading the New England Shelf Hydrogeology expedition.

🚢 Another milestone for #RVNarragansettDawn! Last week, the shipyard installed the vessel’s main crane. It will handle everything from loading gear and vans to swinging over the gangway at the dock — and, when paired with the oceanographic winch, it can tow science equipment for research at sea.

🌿 Alaska’s salt marshes hold clues to a dynamic, changing landscape #URIGSO Professor @erinkpeck.bsky.social and M.S. student Emily Hall traveled to the Copper River Delta and Anchorage this summer to study salt marshes shaped by the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history, the 1964 Alaska quake.

📖 Each fall and spring, Aboard GSO strives to tell compelling stories about the #URIGSO community. Please take 5 minutes to complete the survey to help us improve our magazine and inform how we deliver stories of ocean research, innovation, & discovery to a wide variety of audiences:

#TBT: Before #URIGSO, before URI, there was the Narragansett Marine Lab. Built in 1936, this building (pictured circa 1940) is now the Mosby Center, named for Helen Mosby, longtime secretary to GSO founding dean, John Knauss. Rhode Island State College became the University of Rhode Island in 1951!

🌍 #WhereInTheWorldsGSO? 📍 Southcentral Alaska! #URIGSO's @erinkpeck.bsky.social & student Emily Hall are part of a team of early career scientists studying salt marshes in Alaska’s dynamic coastal landscape alongside colleagues from the University of Washington and the Desert Research Institute.

#RVEndeavor wrapped up cruise #EN733, continuing its 49th research season w/ a project focused on developing a platform-agnostic sediment trap controller and imaging sensor. The crew tested technology to collect/image sinking biological material in the lower mesopelagic zone 500 to 1000 meters deep!

Our Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURFOs) worked alongside #URIGSO faculty/student mentors on projects ranging from modeling acidification in Narragansett Bay to training an AI algorithm on deep-sea footage, analyzing squid behavior, mapping the seafloor, culturing diatoms, & more.

☀️ Hot off the press: a new edition of #AboardGSO is here! We celebrate 75 years of partnership with the NSF & highlight stories of leadership, adaptation, & impact—from Margaret Leinen, the first woman dean of #URIGSO, to alum Regina Rodrigues, & pathways for building the blue economy workforce.

Should Rhode Island’s horseshoe crabs get stronger protections? The debate continues, as populations haven’t recovered in over two decades, despite restoration efforts. Data from #URIGSO's weekly Fish Trawl survey, alongside RI DEM surveys, help track these ancient creatures in Narragansett Bay. 🦑

It's Women in Science Day at Mystic Aquarium! This event celebrates the contributions of women in STEM & invites young aspiring scientists to explore hands-on activities. Thanks to Mystic Aquarium for bringing the local science community together & inspiring the next generation of ocean stewards. 🌊

🪸 🌊 A study led by #URIGSO's Kelton McMahon reveals that food webs on tropical reefs are more structured and specialized than previously understood. 🦑 🧪 ➡️ Explore how novel isotope analysis methods are reshaping our understanding of how life on coral reefs is sustained:

RI-CHAMP, STORMTOOLS, and MyCoast, critical weather-related programs developed at URI, have received state funding that will enable the university to continue leading in coastal safety analysis, early warning systems, and resilience. ➡️ Pivoting as federal funding priorities change: buff.ly/75AcGcq

🌊 Recently published in Oceanography's Ocean Education section, this new hands-on activity co-authored by #URIGSO's Pierre Marrec and Susanne Menden-Deuer guides students through the process of turning raw fluorescence into reliable, post-calibrated chlorophyll a data using open-access resources. 🧪

☀️ Summer is in full swing at #URIGSO 🌊🌺🏖️⛵️ Whether you’re exploring Narragansett Bay, enjoying the beach on South Ferry Road, or diving into your studies, make sure to take in all that our campus has to offer in this special season! Visit us at the Bay Campus: buff.ly/FVQt9an

ICYMI: #URIGSO's Holly Pettus and Jason Fahy appeared on the @shipwreckspod.bsky.social podcast to chat about the 17 shipwrecks documented on their most recent NOAA OECI mission in the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary ⬇️ 🔈 Give it a listen!

🦈 On #SharkAwarenessDay, we’re highlighting how #URIGSO Ph.D. student Christine de Silva and her team are making deep-sea shark research more accessible with the #BRUV, a small, untethered underwater video system that captures footage without the need for big, expensive gear. 🌊 🦑 🧪

🌊 Judging by these smiling faces, it’s safe to say our middle schoolers had a fantastic week at #URIGSO Oceanography Explorers Camp! Campers trawled Narragansett Bay to collect/observe local marine life, dissected squid, designed cardboard boats, and explored the rocky shorelines around the state. 🦑

🌊Just out! We reviewed the history of human-ocean interactions, focusing on the Pacific coast of the Southern Central Asmerican Isthmus (Panamá and Costa Rica). Over 16K years of stories on culture, environment, and ecology! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.... Illustration: Madeline Dall