Ocean Observatories Initiative, $368m network that has provided crucial climate data, latest victim of Trump cuts
The Trump administration plans to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system that has for more than a decade provided crucial data on ocean systems and climate change.
In a notice, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it had “initiated descoping of the Ocean Observatories Initiative” (OOI), a vast ocean observation network comprising more than 900 instruments that collect data on ocean health, including current patterns, climate variability and marine biodiversity.
The notice, issued on 21 May, came just days after Trump fired all members of the independent board that oversees the NSF. It outlined plans to remove all in-water infrastructure from observation sites off the coasts of North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, as well as from the Irminger Sea, a marginal sea between Greenland and Iceland.
Sure, I’ll just grab $368M from my couch cushions.
Honestly, it would be cheaper and possibly easier to raise an army of protestors to physically stop the dismantling via direct action.
Not like the gov spends efficiently. Its real cost is probably far less. Look at AirGradient, they have a map of hundreds if not thousands of sensors globally, pooled from people submitting data.