Sunrise seen from Earth's orbit (illustrative image), PHOTO: Yevhenii Tryfonov / Dreamstime.com
The White House is preparing to dismantle a meteorological research center in the state of Colorado, a seemingly minor decision that would affect not only climate science on Earth, but also our ability to understand weather from space, reports Gizmodo.
The institution concerned is the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), under the auspices of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Russ Vought, the director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), announced the administration's plan to dismantle NCAR, describing it in a message on the “X” social network as “one of the biggest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”
The initiative is the latest in the Trump administration's war on climate science, which has included proposed cuts to research funding and including the removal of existing data from government websites.
NCAR was founded more than six decades ago to study Earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate, but it also conducts research in space weather, solar activity, and how it affects Earth's magnetosphere. Two of NASA's upcoming heliophysics missions build on work done by NCAR researchers.
Two NASA missions to study the Sun
Earlier this month, NASA decided to advance two heliophysics missions aimed at deepening our understanding of Earth's host star and the stream of charged particles it emits, known as the solar wind.
One of those missions, the Chromospheric Magnetism Explorer (CMEx), is designed to study the reddish layer of the solar atmosphere, called the chromosphere, in an attempt to understand the origin of solar flares and identify the magnetic sources of the solar wind, according to NASA.
“These mission concepts, if advanced to launch, will improve our ability to predict solar events that could affect the satellites we depend on every day and reduce the dangers to astronauts near Earth, on the Moon or on Mars,” Asal Naseri, associate director of heliophysics at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.
The Solar Transition Region Ultraviolet Explorer (STRUVE) is another NCAR-led NASA mission to study the solar chromosphere and corona, scheduled to launch in 2029 and collect data on the regions where the energy that powers solar storms builds up before being released.
“The chromosphere is an extremely important part of the solar atmosphere when it comes to storing and releasing magnetic energy,” Alfred de Wijn, NCAR researcher and principal investigator of the STRUVE mission, said in a separate statement. “We know that the photosphere's magnetic field is connected to the heliosphere, but we don't know how it crosses the chromosphere. We are interested in what actually happens in this intermediate layer and how the magnetic field changes before eruptions,” explained the researcher.
American researchers are pinning their hopes on Congress
With NCAR's fate in limbo, it's unclear whether the proposed spacecraft will ever get to observe our host star. Vought's statement suggests that approved research activities would be taken over by other organizations, but OMB did not specify how those decisions would be made.
“Research at NCAR contributes to our understanding of space weather risks from solar storms and the atmospheric properties of other planets inside and outside our solar system,” Dara Norman, president of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), said earlier this month.
“AAS calls on Congress to exercise its oversight powers and investigate NSF's basis and decision-making process regarding NCAR,” it added.
US lawmakers have previously backed legislation aimed at reversing the White House's proposed cuts to scientific research at NASA and other agencies, and have until January 30 to pass budget bills that would clear up the situation.
PHOTO article: Yevhenii Tryfonov / Dreamstime.com.
