The National Science Foundation on Thursday reversed a decision to dismantle a sprawling ocean monitoring network after vigorous objections from Democratic lawmakers and scientists who rely on it to track everything from ocean circulation to extreme weather.
The NSF issued a statement saying that it “appreciates the concerns raised by the range of stakeholders” and would halt efforts to remove or disable equipment. It also said it will redeploy equipment that already was removed from the water and convene an expert panel to determine the future of the network.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386 million. Over the last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change and extreme weather, producing data freely available to the public and informing more than 500 scientific publications. The project was slated to run another 15 to 20 years.
The National Science Foundation had directed the removal of most of the system’s instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027 — a decision scientists said came with no warning and no scientific review.
I couldn’t be happier to hear this, but let’s be clear, these “evolving scientific priorities” are where our current administration just says what they want to be true to help establish a narrative even if it goes against what science says. And the more they’re able to stop studies or cancel projects that might counter their narratives with actual science the easier it will be to get their narrative to stick.
