A government-funded ocean weather station that scientists say is critical to tracking climate change is being hauled out of the water. The National Science Foundation plans to begin removing more than 900 instruments from the $368 million Ocean Observatories Initiative in June, effectively shutting down a deep-sea network off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and in the North Atlantic's Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland. The system, in operation since 2016 and formerly expected to run for 25 years, has supplied continuous data on carbon absorption, marine heat waves, fisheries, and coastal flooding, and has been central to monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation currents, the New York Times reports.
NSF says ending the program fits a broader push to shift resources to new priorities and technologies. Critics frame it differently: former NOAA chief scientist Craig McLean calls the dismantling a sign of the administration's "lack of understanding" of scientific value and a blow to US scientific leadership. Maritime Executive reports the move aligns with Project 2025's directive to dissolve climate-change research blamed for "climate alarmism." Researchers warn that years of hard-won engineering and expertise could vanish with the instruments, which have spared scientists from risky, expensive expeditions at sea. The Trump administration has tried for years to slash funding for the network, which costs about $48 million a year to operate, though Congress previously prevented that.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
