Trump administration moves to pull 900 deep-sea sensors, risking Atlantic current data
The Trump administration plans to remove over 900 deep-sea instruments from the Ocean Observatories Initiative, dismantling four arrays in the Atlantic and Pacific as part of a shift to a leaner lifecycle approach. NSF says it is not canceling ocean science, but prioritizing evolving priorities and technologies, with only the Regional Cabled Array remaining. The cut threatens long-running, real-time data on ocean conditions and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), potentially hindering climate research and monitoring, even as a substantial 2026 funding cut was proposed elsewhere in the NSF budget.