URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2016_Melissa-McCarthy

With the title of geological oceanographer, the expectation may be that University of Rhode Island (URI) Professor John King’s research exists primarily beneath the waves. As his interests turn to climate change, however, his research has extended up the beach to examine the comprehensive environmental impact of adapting to new scenarios. King’s current area of research lies in the intersection of two special area management projects — a survey of Rhode Island’s oceans and a project collecting data to help coastal communities prepare for the coming effects of climate change on state beaches. His goal, he says, is to help “mitigate impending climate disaster.”

How Alternative Energy Impacts Rhode Island

from Tribes to Beaches to Oceans to Lobsters

written by Allison Farrelly ‘16

King has been working in cooperation with lobstermen to establish a common truth of how offshore wind farms could affect lobster migration and, consequently, fisheries.

Fall | 2016 Page 41

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