The National Science Foundation's plan to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative threatens the continuity of critical oceanic and climate research.

A group of Democratic senators and one Republican, as well as two Democratic House committees, sent letters Monday to the National Science Foundation asking it to reverse course on its plan to dismantle a sprawling ocean monitoring network, with House lawmakers going further and accusing the agency of acting illegally. 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. The independent federal agency, which was established by Congress, described the move not as a cancellation but as a “descoping” aligned with a strategy to prioritize “evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies.” The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget had included a 55% cut to the agency. https://apnews.com/article/ocean-observatories-initiative-trump-congress-9b306cb05ec3c824f5e034821add6ad2

Lawmakers fight to stop the Trump administration's dismantling $386M #ocean observatory project Democratic senators and one Republican, as well as two Democratic House committees, sent letters Monday to #NSF asking it to reverse course on its plan to dismantle #OOI. #OceanObservatoriesInitiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386 million. Over last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, #climatechange & #extremeweather https://apnews.com/article/ocean-observatories-initiative-trump-congress-9b306cb05ec3c824f5e034821add6ad2