But, under threat of cuts across the U.S. federal government, people have been monitoring the snow-covered government plans throughout the West. There are also opportunities to run into trouble: Hawaii’s carbon dioxide measurements, hurricane prediction tools, and databases that track the economic impact of natural disasters. All of this made me think: What do we lose when data is at risk?
For example, work at the Mauna Loa Observatory, located on the north side of the world’s largest active volcano. In the Hawaii facility, researchers have been measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide since 1958.
The figure thus called Keeling Curve (after the scientist Charles David Keeling who started his efforts) is the backbone of climate research. It shows that carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas on the planet, and in the atmosphere, it has increased from about 313 per million in 1958 to 420 parts per million today.
The proposed layoffs will cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) jeopardizes the future of the keel curve. Just as Ralph Keeling wired“If successful, this loss will be a nightmare for climate science, not only in the United States, but in the world.”
This story is now reverberating in the climate world. A Princeton lab has produced top climate models that some believe are used to make hurricane predictions, as NOAA budget cuts may be in trouble. Last week, NOAA announced it would no longer track the economic impact of the largest natural disaster in the United States.
Some of the largest climate efforts will feel the effects of these cuts, and as James’ new story suggests, they may also penetrate into various specialist areas. Even seemingly niche work can have a huge impact on research and on people.
The frozen reservoirs in the Sierra Mountains provide one-third of California groundwater, as well as most of the use of northwestern Nevada towns. Researchers there hope to help officials better predict the timing of potential water supply in the area.
A few years ago, this story came up with my visit to El Paso, Texas. I talked with farmers there who rely on water that landed from Rio Grande and the descending groundwater to support their crops. There, spring water lands from the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico and falls in the Butte reservoir of the elephant. A farmer I met showed me the pages and pages of the reservoir records, which he copied carefully by hand. These wrinkles’ pages are a clear signal: publicly available data is crucial to his work.
Scientific research efforts, especially when it involves patiently collecting data, are not always exciting. Its importance is often overlooked. But as the cuts continue, we are keeping monitoring because lost data can compromise our ability to track, address and adapt to our changing climate.
This article comes from Spark MIT Technology ReviewWeekly climate communications. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, Register here.
