Scientists warn Trump plan to axe US ocean monitoring system will leave world 'flying blind'

[littlemissmartypants]

Source: The Guardian

The Trump administration’s plan to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would “severely degrade” the accuracy of weather predictions and El Niño forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned.

Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to research published last month.

As a result, the forecasts and early warning systems for storms, tropical cyclones and El Niño would degrade, “sometimes dangerously so”, according to Sabrina Speich, an expert in global ocean monitoring at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris and chair of the ocean expert panel of the Global Climate Observing System.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), run by the US National Science Foundation, is a vast network of seafloor systems, underwater gliders and moored surface platforms that feeds data to researchers, policymakers, educators and mariners worldwide. The initiative, which covers both US coastlines and extends into the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean, has been used to study marine heatwaves, harmful algal blooms, subduction zone earthquakes, ocean acidification and fisheries variability.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/05/trump-plan-ocean-monitoring-system-concern-scientists

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Karen McVeigh
Fri 5 Jun 2026 06.00 EDT

My comment: He should consult his yacht owner pals. They might not like the idea either. Unless they plan to stay moored at their marinas or start their own weather forecasting conglomerates.

The cruelty is the goal of the psychopath.

The Goal.

[Cheezoholic]

1. He doesn't even know what it is. This is Vought checking Project 2025 boxes with free reign n/t

[tanyev]

2. Who needs a monitoring system when Dear Leader can redirect hurricanes with a Sharpie?

[mopinko]

3. "blind" is exactly what he wants.

if he cd, literally, poke all his critics eyes out, he’d love to.

[BadgerKid]

4. And possibly cannot identify grift in renewable energy. Nt

[electric_blue68]

5. Gotta admit my jaw dropped on this one....ignorance!

Or cruelty as mentioned.

But, yeah, his yacht owning pals may have a word with him. Certainly they're not all ignorant.

[0rganism]

6. IIRC, it wasn't a huge expense - maybe the UN could take over the program instead?

Unless the goal is to keep humans ignorant and confused so we can damage the entire biosphere with our idiocy. That would be cruel and insane, which I suppose is much of the appeal for F47 et al.