1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years.
Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.
"The Department of Defense has said it will cancel plans to discontinue a program that makes public satellite data that is crucial for hurricane forecasting and sea ice monitoring" via @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/c...
The #Glacier Loss Day is reached in Switzerland!
From now on all melt that occurs on glaciers until October is unsustainable. This tipping point has only been reached so early in the record-shattering year 2022.
Expect big ice loss due to the prolonged melt season and feedback effects
Remember those Earth at Night images we love? They were from DMSP's Optical sensor, OLS. it's so sensitive, it can pinpoint grid outages, invaluable after disasters. Although designed to work at least 5 years post-launch, they can work 20+ years. We're throwing away data for no reason
Sad to see that leadership didn’t approve of my suggested post language (assuming since this is what is posted) that I submitted on my last day in May as the social media manager.
Allow me share some of our team’s kind words here instead:
Orthoimage of the Columbia Icefield from last September acquired from the @unbc @hakai Airborne Coastal Observatory
A shout out to the @hakai.org ACO team for their work in helping us understand the magnitude of glacier mass loss in western Canada in a study published today.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
there seem to be download options here, also still trying to figure it out: ads.nipr.ac.jp/vishop/#/ext...
Screenshot from NSIDC that says: "Dear Colleague: The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) learned yesterday that the Department of Defense (DoD) will stop processing and delivering the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) data no later than 30 June 2025. The SSMIS data are used as input for the following NSIDC DAAC-produced data sets, which will therefore stop processing no later than 30 June 2025:"
Awful. More horrible science news
"The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) learned yesterday that the Department of Defense (DoD) will stop processing & delivering the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) data no later than 30 June 2025."
Two-fold increase in glacier mass loss between 2010-2020 and 2021-2024! 🔥📈
CAN+Swiss glaciers lost 12-13% of their 2020 volume during these 4 years! 😱
Nothing can compare with early 2020s ice loss rates
📷 Bare ice at Peyto Glacier @hakai.org
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Hunting the extreme year 2022...
Yes, I'm really worried about the current state of Swiss #glaciers! After a dry winter, the scorching heat of the last weeks pushes glaciers towards another black year.
Hoping for some cooling but the summer has only just started
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
I have read many of these blogs. They are a fantastic resource and really well written. Thank you all!
Finally… I’ve been waiting for someone to cover this story. So sad. Climate[dot]gov has always been one of my favorite go-to resources to share.
Continued coverage of the plight of US climate science from @science.org here:
The US military has now halted operational data delivery of sea ice extent observations to @nsidc.bsky.social, blinding key eyes on climate change.
www.science.org/content/arti...
interesting, thanks!
is there some issue with Yakutat data? seems like you skipped it here? monthly temp looks quite a bit warmer than the surrounding stations and I've been wondering why
Die weiße Schneedecke ❄️ auf einem Gletscher schützt ihn vor direkten Sonnenstrahlen, was die Gletscherschmelze verlangsamt. Doch die Gletscher in Österreich und in den Ostalpen sind im Sommer mittlerweile mehrheitlich blank. Glaziologin Lea Hartl warnt daher vor "dunklen Gletschern". Mehr dazu ⤵️
May 28-June 1: Livestream 100 HOURS TO SAVE AMERICA'S FORECASTS. Weather and climate scientists share why forecasts are vital to all of us - from hurricanes to droughts to arctic sea ice and much more - wclivestream.com
Unidata maintains a lot of key weather data infrastructure, including the netCDF data standard and libraries, metpy. data dissemination servers for accessing models and observations from NOAA, and educational resources for the university community. Now everyone is furloughed b/c of Trump and DOGE.
NOAA-15, 0739 UTC Overpass: What imagery from the Grand Ol' Girl, @petagna.bsky.social @drgeoffsmith.bsky.social @wgoodf.bsky.social Remember, in June, the Trump Administration plans on de-supporting NOAA-15, 18 and 19 satellites. Still unclear as to their futures.
Sea ice data on @polarportal.bsky.social is from European @osi-saf.eumetsat.int group, sea ice thickness + Greenland surface mass balance is from @dmidk.bsky.social's operational models + #GRACE satellite data is from our partners @dtucryo.bsky.social as part of @esaclimate.bsky.social ❄️🥼⚒️🧪⛏️🌊
Effective May 5, 2025, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will decommission its snow and ice data products from the Coasts, Oceans, and Geophysics Science Division (COGS). As a result, the level of services for affected products below will be reduced to Basic—meaning they will remain accessible but may not be actively maintained, updated, or fully supported. This includes Sea Ice Index, Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) Data Products, Glacier Photograph Collection, U.S. National Ice Center Arctic Sea Ice Charts and Climatologies in Gridded Format Gridded Monthly Sea Ice Extent and Concentration, 1850 Onward World Glacier Inventory. If you rely on these products in your work, research, education, or planning, we invite you to share your story at nsidc@nsidc.org. Your input can help us demonstrate the importance of these data sets and advocate for future support.
This is horrible. I don't even know what to say. Some of our most key polar data.
"As a result, the level of services for affected products below will be reduced to Basic—meaning they will remain accessible but may not be actively maintained, updated, or fully supported."
nsidc.org/data/user-re...
Landsat could use your support. The mission's 50+ year data continuity is at risk. If you believe contacting elected representatives does anything, now would be a good time to apply pressure. 🛰️📡
PGC have been vital in processing and providing satellite imagery, digital elevation models, maps and other geospatial data to scientists for decades. Polar science needs this work to continue.
#saveNSF #withoutNSF 🧪
Much of the debate we've seen so far has posed Trump's attacks on science as an American problem - but it's not. It's a global problem. The stark reality is that US research underpins much of the world's science - and it's not just money. /1 www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...
This is the 30th anniversary of the OKC Bombing. Please let me share a perspective on it. It starts with an Oklahoma geography lesson. 1/n
"Their data is sort of crucial to our monitoring mission," Louisiana State Climatologist Jay Grymes said.
www.nola.com/news/weather...
Can confirm that my NSF grant "How False Beliefs Form & How to Correct Them" was cancelled today because it is "not in alignment with current NSF priorities" Shocking that understanding how people are misled by false information is now a forbidden topic. Our work will continue but at a smaller scale
The 2026 budget passback plan calls for eliminating NOAA Research, the scientific backbone that keeps weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings accurate and effective. This would have disastrous consequences.
Read the AMS statement, in partnership w/ @nwas.org: bit.ly/4cz2RtC
NOUS41 KWBC 171430 PNSWSH Service Change Notice 25-36 National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring, MD 1030 AM EDT Thu Apr 17, 2025 To: From: Subscribers: -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Manager Weather Information Network -NOAAPort -Other NWS Partners, Users, And Employees Mike Hopkins, Director Surface and Upper Air Division Office of Observations Subject: Temporary Reduction of Radiosonde Observations, from Selected Sites, Effective April 17, 2025. Until further notice, the National Weather Service (NWS) may temporarily reduce or suspend scheduled radiosonde launches at selected NWS upper air sites due to staffing limitations or operational priorities. Office(s) will continue to conduct special observations as resources allow and in response to emerging weather events. To mitigate potential impacts, the NWS is actively pursuing alternative sources of upper-air data and adjusting internal staffing and procedures to maintain continuity of service. Additional updates will be provided as needed. Under normal operations, the NWS conducts and/or supports radiosonde observations twice a day from 100 upper air sites throughout the United States, Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. Radiosondes are sensors attached to weather balloons to provide critical upper-atmospheric data including temperature, dew point, relative humidity, pressure, and wind profiles. These data support weather modeling and forecasting and are complemented by observations from aircraft, satellites, radars, surface stations, and ocean buoys. If you or your organization have any questions about these changes, please contact: Mike Hopkins Director Surface and Upper Air Division National Weather Service E-mail: mike.hopkins@noaa.gov National Service Change Notices are online at: https://www.weather.gov/notification/ NNNN
At this point, it's going to be difficult to keep track of what radiosonde sites are launching consistently or not.
You can always check the SDM Administrative Messages to see which radiosondes made it into the models or not:
www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/status/messa...
