There is another half of America—an estimated 3 billion acres—beneath the ocean’s surface that we know very little about. The time is coming for that to change.
The University of Rhode Island is at the forefront of a new age of ocean exploration with its selection by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to lead a new, $94 million cooperative institute for ocean exploration to discover that vast underwater territory.
NOAA’s Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, led by the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, will work to support ocean exploration, responsible resource management, improved scientific understanding of the deep sea and to strengthen the nation’s Blue Economy. In addition to exploring unknown undersea areas, the institute will also develop and deploy the new technology necessary to do so.
“With the Blue Economy expected to more than double its contribution to the U.S. economy and employ 40 million people by 2030, NOAA’s new cooperative institute will be on the front lines helping NOAA explore and characterize the three billion acres of U.S. ocean territory,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. “The Blue Economy relies on data and information to inform science-based management and sustainable use of our ocean resources in support of economic growth, food security and our national security.”
