NOAA Research and Monitoring Cuts

The subject is the debate over proposed reductions in federal support for NOAA research, climate monitoring, and observation networks.

Budget proposals discussed in Congress included cuts to internal and extramural research, global monitoring laboratories, extreme-weather warning capabilities, and regional systems such as the Great Lakes network. These programs supply data used for forecasting, ocean and atmospheric monitoring, water-quality assessment, fisheries management, shipping, and local climate-risk decisions. The central question is how changes in federal science capacity could affect the reliability and availability of information relied on by public agencies, communities, businesses, and researchers.