For decades, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been the beating heart of weather forecasts that keep our society safe.
Its employees regularly collect weather data that help scientists monitor daily forecasts, track hurricanes, support air traffic control, operate marine vessels, enhance wildfire relief efforts and, of course, keep the weather application on your mobile phone accurate. This information is also shared freely with nations worldwide, including those most vulnerable to climate disasters.
In a sense, NOAA has been seamlessly almost invisibly threaded into countless aspects of global infrastructure. But about two weeks ago, its largely inconspicuous role was thrust into the spotlight when more than 800 staff members were abruptly dismissed from the agency’s already understaffed workforce of 13,000. The agency has also been told it could lose an additional 1,000 employees.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, is among several experts who worry that further cuts potentially as high as 50% — are imminent. There is credible reason to believe that those deeper cuts are coming at NOAA, Swain said, citing concerns that they could be made in a rush to help fund the government ahead of a possible shutdown that could occur by the end of today (March 14). These cuts, he added, would be “catastrophic” for NOAA, as it would equate to a 90 to 100% cut in the agency’s ability to carry out its work.
Among those already fired are local meteorologists at NOAA’s National Weather Service, who provided lifesaving forecasts during disaster events not only to the public but also to fire departments, sheriff’s offices and transportation agencies.
“It affects everyone, every day, in far more ways than many folks realize,” Swain told Space.com. “Even if we don’t care about people’s lives — which, I don’t really understand how we get to this point but even if we only care about the money, this has huge consequences for both American and global economies.”
The NOAA layoffs are part of a wider effort by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to implement large-scale cuts aimed at significantly downsizing the federal government in an effort to save what the administration considers “wasted” taxpayer money. Many who were dismissed from NOAA had been recently hired to fill essential staffing gaps, said Swain, raising concerns that there may not be staff to maintain critical systems or fix them as quickly as necessary.
Source:https://www.space.com/the-universe/earth/their-loss-diminishes-us-all-scientists-emphasize-how-trumps-mass-noaa-layoffs-endanger-the-world
