March 6, 2017

expert reaction to White House proposed budget cut to NOAA

The White House is proposing to cut the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a leading government agency on climate science, by a reported 17 percent.

Prof. Joanna Haigh, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, said:

“In withdrawing significant funds from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration the Trump administration is in danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  It doesn’t want to hear about the dangers of climate change but it stands to significantly weaken its capacity to provide protection from severe storms and other weather extremes.

“The satellite data  division, threatened with losing almost a quarter of its budget, provides observations of atmospheric temperature, wind, clouds and other meteorological parameters which are fundamental for weather forecasting and monitoring weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes.  The threat these pose to coastal regions (including a number of Trump’s golf courses) are real and have already been demonstrated.

“Ironically the military, which would apparently benefit from the switch of funds away from NOAA, is fully cognisant of the importance of climate science, with the Pentagon having acknowledged that a world resilient to climate change is fundamental to maintaining military effectiveness.”

Declared interests 

None