New attack on scientific research. The Trump administration will dismantle a $368 million (€316 million) observation system set up in 2016 to monitor coastal environments, marine ecosystems and powerful currents that affect the global climate. These data were essential in particular to study the ocean, marine heat waves, or coastal floods.
900 instruments installed on the high seas will be dismantled from June 2026 off the coast of Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, North Carolina, and the Irminger Sea. The system of the latter was essential to understand the oceanic circulation of the Atlantic, which could collapse during the 21st century.
« In dismantling such a system, we are pushing the United States back into a back seat in global scientific leadership, » warned Craig McLean, acting chief scientist of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration during Donald Trump’s first term. This reflects the current administration’s additional lack of understanding of scientific value and scientific merit. «
source : reporterre
