Ocean Monitoring Cut Could Leave Forecasts Flying Blind

Scientists warn that the US plan to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative would degrade ocean heat-content data and seriously undermine weather forecasts and El Niño predictions, with forecasts becoming less reliable and a projected 163% increase in error for annual ocean-heating rates; the move would hit GOOS data worldwide, raising economic costs, while the NSF says the program is being descaled rather than canceled, and Europe is bolstering its own OceanEye monitoring.