North Pole 50

GSO celebrates 50-year anniversary, contributions

NARRAGANSETT - On Tuesday morning, a team of researchers from the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography set out from Wickford to trawl the Narragansett Bay to take samples of fish life in the waters between Fox Island and Rhode Island Sound. 

The trip - known as the Narragansett Bay Fish Trawl - has launched once a week for the last 52 years. The information researchers have gathered has helped to shape almost entirely what is known about seasonal and annual changes in marine life in the bay. It is one of the contributions that will be celebrated this weekend as the GSO celebrates its 50th anniversary. Founded in 1936 as URI Narragansett Marine Laboratory, the institution was formally recognized as the Graduate School of Oceanography in 1961 when the first doctoral program in oceanography was established. With the help of URI President Frances Horn, professors Charles and Marie Fish set out to create an institution without rigid boundaries between the many sub-disciplines of oceanography and atmospheric chemistry. "It's pretty incredible to think about," said David C. Smith, associate dean for the GSO. Smith accompanied former faculty member Kate Moran to the North Pole, where researchers bunked on Swedish ice breakers while drilling hundreds of meters in to the North Pole. The trip was critical in allowing Moran to trace the climate in the North Pole as far back as 55 million years. The 185-foot research vessel Endeavor, is one of only 21 ships involved in oceanographic research through the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, a group of 61 academic institutions and national laboratories. After the 2010 earthquake that ravaged Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, a research team aboard the vessel conducted geophysical surveys to determine the location of the fault line. Last June, the ship, given a week's notice, mobilized to engage in critical studies to determine the fate of oil in the water column after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Despite its international clout, the GSO has kept a relatively low profile, in part because the research conducted by its students and faculties is so complex. An open house will be held this Saturday at the Bay Campus will allow visitors the chance to see firsthand the research facilities at the GSO. For a full listing of activities that are planned, see the Art & Living section, page C1.

From Oman to the North Pole | Nasser Mizdawi

Certainly, making the trek to the North Pole is no small feat. Now, a new documentary film shows how one explorer from Oman – Nabil “Nabs” Al Busaidi has hit a new record. As the first Arab to walk to the North Pole, Al Busaidi created a new record, and has now had a documentary created for him.

Titled “The Arab Who Took on the Arctic,” the film is 44 minutes long and chronicles Al Busaidi’s experience trekking to the North Pole with a team. The film was just screened at City Cinema Shatti in Oman on Saturday and the film is now also available for purchase by TV broadcasters, according to Arabian Business.

After screening the film, Nabil said, “The director made the expedition more like a story, with a storyline of hardship, redemption and triumph at the end. I guess it was like that, but it didn’t feel like a Hollywood film script at the time.” He continued to tell Arabian Business that, “It’s a pretty good feeling to have a documentary made about me. And to have done something significant enough to warrant a documentary.”