about reports<\/a> that the NOAA may be forced to close its world-famous observation sites in Mauna Loa, Hawaii and Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n\u201cThose are our two long-standing observations of atmospheric CO2,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about losing observations of moisture, of ice, of air quality, of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It\u2019s vandalism. It\u2019s absolutely heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Piers Forster, founding director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds, said the impact of \u201cTrump 2.0\u201d on the international science community is \u201cfar more significant\u201d than the US President\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI publish an annual update of global indicators of climate change. This year, we still had access to US data on greenhouse gas levels, surface temperature and ocean heating. But several US authors were unable to contribute their expertise, harming our ability to fully understand recent trends.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cColleagues I have previously worked with at US institutions have been given hours to clear their desks and leave\u2026 Whole labs, such as Nasa GISS [Goddard Institute for Space Studies] and NOAA labs, appear to be under threat. They curate important data sets, such as the CO2 record at Mauna Loa, which gave the first hard evidence of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Scott Osprey, a senior NCAS research scientist based at the University of Oxford, relies on data collected by US satellites that are being discontinued, including a Nasa satellite called TIMED that has been in orbit for 25 years.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe data that has accumulated over that time is gold dust; 25 years of climate change in the atmosphere and the upper atmosphere. You just do not get that sort of time series, and what we see very much adds to the story of global environmental change that we\u2019re experiencing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the loss of that and the anticipation of no further upcoming missions to fill that gap, we\u2019re really at a loss to provide continued evidence on how our climate has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Neely, professor of Observational Atmospheric Science at the University of Leeds, works on a project called ICECAPS, which is studying how the Greenland ice sheet is melting.<\/p>\n
The project, which is part of a 15-year collaboration between UK and US researchers, is going on an indefinite pause due to uncertainty over future funding from the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much uncertainty that the National Science Foundation can\u2019t make any decisions. They got kicked out of their office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can\u2019t continue doing it unless they\u2019re going to have their salaries paid, and they\u2019re pulling out all the equipment from Greenland this summer, and the joint project is going to be over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Chris Reed works on the NCAS\u2019 research aircraft that measures greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.<\/p>\n
He said his team had a contract with Nasa to provide an instrument that they could use on their aircraft, but Nasa appears to no longer be able to fulfil this commitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t know month to month whether they\u2019re still going to have a job. Building stuff for us is not the priority,\u201d he said.
\u201cWe also need to extend the contract with them to be able to do an extra bit of work, but there is a moratorium on any new agreements, contracts, or anything external with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around 16,000 US federal workers have been sacked due to executive orders signed by Trump during his second term, while more job losses are expected at Nasa and NOAA as part of the President\u2019s 2026 budget proposals.<\/p>\n
Professor Neely, who is originally from the US, said: \u201cIt\u2019s like the house I grew up in is getting burned down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these institutions with all this knowledge, it\u2019s just going away\u2026all these institutions have taken decades to build up, and it\u2019s just really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said Trump\u2019s assault on climate science has had a \u201cchilling effect\u201d, with US researchers \u201cfinding it more difficult to engage in collaborative networks around climate\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, he said the political climate in the US has provided an opportunity for UK and European universities to \u201cnab some good quality researchers\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also warned that it felt like the UK was moving \u201cbackwards\u201d with Reform \u201cembracing\u201d Trump\u2019s climate agenda and the Conservatives weakening their message on climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does feel like the values of the Enlightenment are under attack,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
Rachel Cauley, communications director at the White House said: \u201cPresident Trump ran on defunding woke, weaponised, and wasteful government and his budget proudly does that by cutting funding for the Green New Scam, projects like \u2018gender-responsive agricultural adaptation\u2019 in Guatemala and Mexico, and \u2018Equity Climate and Health\u2019 workshops for \u2018transgender women, and those who identify as non-binary\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder Trump\u2019s leadership, the US is funding real science again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists decry President’s ‘vandalism’ of climate science as they lose access to data and collaborators UK-based climate scientists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[2311,4174,32,728,1984,2343,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-248603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-climate-crisis","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-global-warming","13":"tag-research","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114818911000091963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}