HN Reader

NOAA released their budget estimate for FY 2026. Someone in our org ran it by copilot to summarize the impacts:

* NOAA eliminates most climate, weather, and ocean labs and grants, causing major layoffs and loss of research capacity.

* National climate research infrastructure is lost, with staff reductions.

* Regional climate services, adaptation, and heat health programs end.

* All climate research grants are cut.

* Foundational ocean observation and Great Lakes research are terminated.

* Sea Grant support for coastal resilience and aquaculture ends.

* Aquaculture research and ocean science partnerships are stopped.

* Funding for uncrewed systems R&D is eliminated.

* Research computing for climate/ocean modeling is reduced or lost.

* Many programs shift to operational focus (NOS/NWS), with layoffs in OAR.

* Regional ocean observing systems and applied coastal research are ended, with grant losses and layoffs.

* State coastal management, resilience, and estuarine reserve grants are terminated.

* Support for coral reef grants and marine sanctuaries is reduced; no new sanctuaries.

* Species/habitat research, salmon recovery, and habitat restoration programs are cut, with major layoffs.

* Satellite/data services are reduced, with staff cuts.

* NOAA Office of Education is closed; mission support staff reduced.

* Overall, there is a major workforce reduction and elimination of many programs.

i think what contributes the most to my sense of dread is the feeling that if you were to tell these decision makers in govt right now "but this'll kill people!" they'd respond "good"

I just feel extremely sad about the mass quantity of events like this happening right now because they are all aggregate to huge negative effects but the average person knows nothing of it. It feels so unfixable.

If this administration doesn't want to do anything to solve climate change, that's their choice. It's a terrible choice, but it's in their power to do so.

However, there's a huge difference between dismissing the severity of the evidence vs. going out of your way to hide evidence. The first is born of arrogance. The later is naked cowardice - they know exactly how wrong they are. If they wanted to project strength, they could simply leave the reports up and say "we don't care". Instead they scurry around behind the curtains trying to cover their tracks. Fucking pathetic.

For those who prefer their news without pop-overs galore, autoplaying unrelated animation/video, requests to enable notifications with only yes/later options, claims to care about your privacy despite wanting to share your details with hundreds of other companies, etc.: https://archive.is/Tu51y

As a non-American, the most painful thing about all of this is seeing how much the world has relied on America's charity for so long.

Had other supposed economic powerhouses invested in their geographic and atmospheric science the same way the USA has, this would've been a rather annoying blip on the radar. We'd need to quickly get our backups out of storage and host them elsewhere, and go without American data points for a couple of years, but most things would be fine.

Instead, it's now becoming clear how much just about any country but China, Russia, and Iran has relied on American scientific investments, and even those seem to freely incorporate American data when it's provided for free.

I have no doubt that all of the atmospheric, oceanographic, and environmental science the American government has all been for strategic purposes, either directly providing information useful for the military of providing a believable excuse to install sensors all around the globe, some of which have been "enhanced". Still, as long as your country is friendly to the American regime, you were getting huge amounts of useful scientific data out of that deal, enough not to set up local alternatives.

Here in the EU, scientists have been scrambling to safeguard data like this since the day of Trump's reelection, but it seems like governments here don't seem to be all that interested in funding any of the work the Americans have been doing.

Still way too much capital in the US for now. If every US citizen with a post graduate qualification emigrated most of them aren't going to find better jobs. Better lives maybe. It is frustrating to see so much money from around the world invested in the US when it could be invested at home. Hopefully the current trends will change that.

The current administration is not merely racists, autocratic, and hell bent on insuring all wealth is held by the oligarch class,

it is also engaged in the most venal, short-sighted, and destructive assault on the basic functions of governance and civil society I can imagine.

I don't care what one's view is on the appropriate scale and role of federal governance, some operations are best and only accomplished at that level,

and this short of bullshit is not just a disservice to, it is an attack on the citizenry.

Gotta provide a smokescreen for “Drill baby drill”

It's a real shame but at least there other nations still doing this work like China and various Euro countries. Sad to see the USA transition to a banana republic. This belief that MAGA party has that the US can't do big things any longer and only corporations and broligarchs know how to lead us forward is just sad.

As the US slowly becomes N. Korea...

Right, nice savings and opportunities for fossil energy industry. Good job.

So what is the plan for handling the US nuclear warhead stockpile as the empire crumbles? I'm worried about billionaires with nukes. Maybe not the person directly but people behind all that envision super wealthy city-states and I totally expect those to have nukes.

The nuclear codes won't stop anyone with time and engineers. These are intended for physically arming the strong link in the warhead that is supposed to send the signal to the exclusion zone but someone with unrestricted access should be able to override it and send the signal directly. Although over the years the mechanical systems were replaced with electronics that eventually become encrypted microelectronics, IIUC the actual device that does the kaboom remained with its original design and applying voltage will be able to trigger it. Safe against rough handlers(i.e. crazy solders) but won't stop people with unrestricted access.

when politics ban science you know things are messed up big time

There are so many red flags with this administration that I lost count. Policing speech, suppressing information, cutting research funding, cutting social programs, increasing spending and intensity for deportations, deporting people for political affiliation, an unnecessarily disruptive economic policy and many reports of general incompetence, lying and corruption.

It's all so bleak. Where is the payoff?

Also a methane sensing satellite just went awol. Probably coincidence though

There are other countries.

Remember folks: if it keeps happening, just dig your head further into the sand.

There, climate problem solved! /s

Tell me more: At my PC, the weather URL

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=35.90615740000...

still works.

That’s some 1984 shit right there yo!

There is a very large amount of redundency in enviromental data gathering and reporting, plus given.the most basic facts that it is impossible to close source the information source, and that there are now countless sensors on.earth and in orbit that can be re calibrated to provide conitiniousl'y consistent new data to older ongoing studies, there is essentialy nothing that can be effected by a political directive to actualy stop reporting, short of martial law, and then people would start printing pamphlets with potatoes and coffee dregs

Earlier, without discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44439836

It´s not so severe, it was just that those servers and the people maintaining them, melt in the latest heatwave. Nothing to worry about.

But Trump doesn't seem to have air conditioning on his golf carts yet.[1] So global warming can't be a big problem.

[1] https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...

Don't look up!