Several US-based Environmental Science Databases To Be Taken Down – Expert Reaction

Several public databases from the US National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be decommissioned
starting next month.

Earlier this month, NOAA announced
changes affecting data sources related to earthquakes
and marine, coastal, and estuary science.

This comes
amid wider concerns about publicly
available scientific data in the US being taken down and
measures
to cut research funding, including at NOAA,
by the current government.

The SMC asked experts to
comment on what impact the database closures will have in
Aotearoa.

Professor Craig Stevens, Department
of Physics, University of Auckland,
comments:

Note: Professor Stevens’
comments on US science funding cuts in February are available
here.

“The global climate science
community over the last decade or so has been working
towards FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and
Reusable) data principles and making data as readily
findable as possible. I would say most of these databases
look reasonably low traffic and so NOAA, faced with dramatic
cuts, is doing what it can to maintain critical functions.
Also there looks to be a trail to archives with the data
saved or the function taken on by some other instrument. But
you never know of course, there will always be someone out
there who has made something of the data and systems. And as
we are seeing with various climate data, just because
something is old and obscure doesn’t mean it isn’t
valuable. These closures make this findability harder, and
moreover, it is likely the tip of the iceberg in terms of
coming impacts of reduced funding.”

Conflict of
interest statement: Prof Stevens regularly collaborates with
US government-funded colleagues. Prof Stevens is on the
council of the NZ Association of Scientists.

Dr
James Renwick, Professor of Physical Geography, Victoria
University of Wellington, comments:

“The loss of
environmental services and products eat away at our
knowledge of the world around us. The recent news of cuts to
NOAA and the NWS have been hugely concerning for weather,
climate and climate sciences worldwide. However, this
announcement of changes at NOAA do not seem so bad from my
point of view. Many products and services will be replaced
by newer or slightly different products, with not many
discontinued altogether – at this stage at least. Set in
the context of the major cuts to staffing and funding going
on in the US to agencies like NOAA, I am concerned about
what will happen next.”

Conflict of interest
statement: “I have many colleagues and friends at NOAA,
NWS and other US agencies, and I have worked collaboratively
with them on international projects and conferences. I
receive no funding directly from the US.”

Our
colleagues at the Taiwan
SMC have also gathered expert comments
in response to the closures and their impact on Taiwan.
Below are machine-generated English translations of
summaries of three expert comments. The translations have
been checked by the authors for
accuracy.

Huang, Wan-Ru, Prof. & Chair
of the Department of Earth Sciences, National Taiwan Normal
University:

Wan-Ru Huang pointed out that
NOAA data is a core resource when doing analysis,
simulation, teaching and even course training. Not only does
it have complete data, long time series, and a consistent
format, it also has processed climate averages and
anomalies, which saves a lot of time and can be used
directly for diagnosis or incorporated into a statistical
framework. For researchers, it is a “directly usable and
reliable” source of information.

Wan-Ru Huang
believes that the impact of closing the database will be
direct and specific. Because the local data that researchers
have is actually limited in spatial and temporal coverage
when it comes to regional scales or when it comes to linking
with global climate variability. Many research processes are
built on the basis of NOAA data. If they are suddenly
interrupted now, in addition to rebuilding the data process,
the entire research design will also be affected, and even
the direction of students’ thesis may be
disrupted.

Wan-Ru Huang explained that what is more
worrying is that many new researchers or students actually
rely on open data such as NOAA to learn analysis and do
research. If even getting started becomes difficult, the
talent training and research energy of the entire academic
community will be affected in the long
run.

Min-Hui Lo, Professor of Atmospheric
Sciences, National Taiwan
University:

Professor Min-Hui Lo indicated
that NOAA’s observational and simulation data allow
scientists to track short-term weather events such as
heatwaves and rainstorms, analyze long-term climate trends,
and investigate issues related to global warming and its
impacts. This information is essential for understanding the
functioning of the Earth system, building numerical
simulation models, and developing effective strategies to
address climate change.

Professor Lo emphasized that
NOAA’s databases have a profound impact on scientific
research, which are widely used in global Earth system
studies and climate model development. Many international
research efforts rely heavily on the availability of these
high-quality datasets for robust analysis. He further noted
that when long-term observation data are discontinued or no
longer updated, it becomes increasingly difficult to assess
climate change trends and impacts accurately. Moreover,
future scientists may find it challenging to trace back and
explain events without continuous, high-quality data
records.

Chen, Min-Te, Distinguished Professor
and Director of the Institute of Earth Sciences, National
Taiwan Ocean University:

Min-Te Chen
expressed deep concern about the news that some databases
will be closed soon. Min-Te Chen believes that this move
will not only have an impact on the global ocean and earth
science community, but will also have a more substantial
impact on Taiwan’s rapidly developing offshore engineering
and disaster warning systems.

Min-Te Chen gave
examples to explain that NOAA’s seabed sediment thickness,
crust age and volcanic distribution data have always been an
indispensable reference for the early stages of submarine
cable planning. Its closure will require relevant units to
incur higher costs to build their own data, or they may risk
carrying out projects based on incomplete
information.

Min-Te Chen believes that the
most regrettable thing is that NOAA’s volcanic eruption
records and seismic reflection data are among the few
public, high-quality and long-term data sources in the
world. Its closure may lead to a reduction in the accuracy
of early warning simulations. For countries like Taiwan that
are vulnerable to undersea earthquakes and tsunamis, the
risks should not be
underestimated.

Min-Te Chen believes that
our government agencies and academic institutions should
back up necessary data as quickly as possible and evaluate
the possibility of establishing alternative databases or
cooperating with international organizations. At the same
time, we hope that NOAA will review the closure plan and
provide relocation or extended access methods to avoid
long-term adverse effects on global earth science research
and marine
engineering.

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