Host Jessica Leigh Lebos welcomes Dr. Catherine Edwards, a coastal physical oceanographer and professor at UGA’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, to discuss how coastal ocean physics shapes ecosystems and forecasting.

Edwards describes her path from music and Spanish into applied physics and oceanography, and explains her work measuring temperature, salinity, density, tides, waves, and currents across Georgia’s wide continental shelf using research vessels, seafloor instruments, and autonomous gliders. She connects coastal processes to carbon export and sequestration, the Gulf Stream’s influence, and why real-time glider profiles improve hurricane intensity forecasts, including rapid intensification risk.

Edwards also details using quiet gliders with hydrophones to detect North Atlantic right whale calls, confirm detections with analysts, and send alerts through NOAA to tools like Whale Alert and Whale Map to help slow ships. The conversation includes river-driven events like undammed flood pulses reaching Gray’s Reef and a myth-busting aside about toilet swirl direction.

Learn more about the voices and topics in this episode:

What's happening at Tybee Island Marine Science Center

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Become a MEMBER

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Partnership and Donation Opportunities

Proudly produced by Dee Daniels Media Podcast Network

FIND A FAVORITE SPOT IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Welcome to Tybee Podcast

01:01 Meet Dr Edwards

01:38 Path Into Oceanography

04:22 Coastal Physics Explained

05:45 Tools and Measurements

07:30 El Nino and Carbon

11:10 Hurricanes and Heat

12:18 Gliders and Right Whales

16:38 Whale Alerts to Mariners

18:25 Radars and Rescue

20:16 Defining Local Waters

21:37 Rivers and Flood Pulses

24:38 Altamaha Flood at Grays Reef

27:54 Do Oceans Really Mix

30:39 Gulf Stream Basics

32:54 Myths and Wrap Up

33:38 Next Tropical Research

36:37 Thanks and Membership

Host Jessica Leigh Lebos welcomes Dr. Kathryn Craven, a Georgia Southern University professor, Tybee Marine Science Center board trustee, and researcher known for work with loggerhead sea turtles and diamondback terrapins.

Craven shares her path from growing up near the Northeast coast to landing a sea turtle research job on Jekyll Island in 1991, including renewing flipper-tagging efforts. She discusses Georgia nesting-season monitoring, increasing loggerhead nest numbers linked to conservation measures such as shrimp fishery regulations and beach protections, and emerging challenges like rising coyote predation, plus mitigation using nest screening and predator control (including feral hogs).

Craven highlights research on nest microbiomes (fungi and bacteria) and findings that most unhatched eggs show fertility. She explains the TERPS head-start program incubating terrapin eggs and releasing hatchlings to offset female road mortality on Highway 80. The conversation also covers teaching evolution misconceptions through student drawing, earlier humpback whale work on bubble-net feeding, and new collaborative DNA-based lionfish research tied to lionfish rodeos and outreach.

Learn more about the voices and topics in this episode:

What's happening at Tybee Island Marine Science Center

Resources:

Become a MEMBER

Volunteer at Tybee Island Marine Science Center

Partnership and Donation Opportunities

Proudly produced by Dee Daniels Media Podcast Network

FIND A FAVORITE SPOT IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:42 Meet Dr Craven

01:42 Coastal Roots and Mentors

04:27 Finding Turtles in Georgia

06:46 Nesting Patrols and Tracks

08:22 Conservation Wins and Predators

10:49 Protecting Nests on Islands

13:06 Microbes Inside Turtle Nests

17:33 Terrapin Season and TERPS

19:04 Head Start Hatchlings Program

21:57 Terrapin History and Turtle Soup

23:27 Teaching Evolution Through Art

28:23 Whales and Bubble Net Feeding

32:20 Lionfish Invasion Research

37:38 Wrap Up and Support the Center

38:53 Membership and Programs Outro

Host Jessica Leigh Lebos welcomes back Joy Davis, the Tybee Island Marine Science Center’s permanent artist-in-residence, a biologist-artist known for the Center’s three-dimensional North Atlantic right whale model of “Smoke” and life-size sea turtle models.

Davis discusses how homeschooling, travel as an Air Force brat, and a blended arts-and-science college path shaped her career, plus her move to Savannah/Tybee through teaching, bartending, ocean-driven volunteering, and eventually working at the Science Center. She explains the research and collaboration required to make the whale anatomically accurate, including reproducing Smoke’s unique callosities and adding 3D-printed “lice.”

Davis also describes work with Animal Exhibits and Designs creating zoo/aquarium environments, new Tybee exhibits like a sit-in osprey nest, four tiled ecosystem murals (marsh, maritime forest, dunes/beach, and Gray’s Reef), and a newly approved backyard pollinator and memorial-style garden.

Learn more about the voices and topics in this episode:

What's happening at Tybee Island Marine Science Center

Resources:

Become a MEMBER

Volunteer at Tybee Island Marine Science Center

Partnership and Donation Opportunities

Proudly produced by Dee Daniels Media Podcast Network

FIND A FAVORITE SPOT IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Welcome to Tybee Podcast

00:45 Meet Joy Davis

02:21 Homeschool Roots

04:35 College and Mentors

05:43 Moving to Savannah

07:12 Tybee Ocean Pull

08:35 DIY Science Center Builds

09:17 Making the Right Whale

12:07 Smoke Fingerprints

14:09 Zoo Fabrication Work

16:18 Research First Process

17:04 Osprey Nest Exhibit

19:57 Murals Reveal

20:45 Mentor Polly Cooper

21:26 Barrier Island Ecosystems

23:49 Tile Craft Process

25:35 Firing Glazing Install

27:06 Backyard Garden Plans

28:49 Surfing Intuition Story

31:59 Wild Water Encounters

34:07 Teamwork Farewell

36:06 Science Center Membership