US Decommissions $386 Million Ocean Sensor Network After 10 Years, Creating Climate Monitoring Gap During Strong El Niño
By
Dilnaz Shaikh
An everything bagel for the brain. Substantive, layered, well-seasoned.
Summary
The United States is decommissioning the in-water portion of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a $386 million climate ocean sensor network, after only 10 years of its planned 25-30 year lifespan. The dismantling, which will take 15 months, removes over 900 sensors from critical ocean locations including off Alaska, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, and the Irminger Sea. This creates a significant blind spot in U.S. climate observation capabilities at a time when a very strong El Niño is forming, potentially hampering scientists' ability to monitor and predict climate patterns.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe United States is decommissioning the in-water half of its largest, longest-running ocean-monitoring network this summer, the National Science Foundation has confirmed.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million array of more than nine hundred sensors mounted on subsurface moorings off Alaska, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina and in the Irminger Sea between Iceland and Greenland, was designed to run for twenty-five to thirty years. It has run for ten.
The dismantling will play out over fifteen months.
You might also wanna read
Trump Administration Dismantles Ocean Monitoring System Tracking Atlantic Currents at Risk of Collapse
The Trump administration is dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a system of over 900 ocean instruments in the Pacific and
e360.yale.edu·9d ago
Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Climate Research at Mauna Loa Observatory
The Trump administration is cutting funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, impacting research on anthropogenic glo
theregister.com·10mo ago
Sudden loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back ‘decades’
theguardian.com·11mo ago
Trump Administration Proposes Cuts to NASA's Carbon Monitoring Satellites
The Trump Administration's 2026 budget proposal includes cuts to NASA science programs, specifically targeting the Orbiting Carbon Observato
gizmodo.com·10mo ago
Physics-Based Indicators for Predicting Atlantic Ocean Circulation Collapse Under Climate Change
This scientific research paper proposes physics-based indicators for detecting the onset of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMO
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com·9mo ago
Study identifies three-phase mechanism driving Antarctic sea ice decline since 2015
This scientific study analyzes the drivers of Antarctic sea ice decline since 2015, using an observationally constrained sea ice–ocean model
Science Advances·1mo ago