Planned cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — including its lab in Princeton — have scientists worried that communities will be less prepared for storms and extreme weather.
The Trump administration is proposing that NOAA reduce its annual budget by $1.8 billion and fire 2,000 full-time employees, including the planned closures include Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, a staple of weather forecasting and climate modeling since 1955.
“Ending some of the other research that NOAA performs through its research labs would be a tremendous loss for American science. But maybe more importantly, it’s a tremendous loss for the American people,” said Anthony Broccoli, a distinguished professor of Atmospheric Science at Rutgers University, who spent 21 years at GFDL
GFDL has been instrumental in studying the atmosphere, leading to more accurate weather forecasts and providing mariners with tidal information.
“The tools that we have today for forecasting the weather and for understanding the earth’s climate are the result of research that goes back decades,” Broccoli said. “And in an environment where the benefits have to be experienced more quickly, I’m not sure we would do that same kind of long-term research that has been done at GFDL.”
The NOAA cuts are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to reduce spending on climate change research, including that taking place in New Jersey.
In April, the federal Department of Commerce canceled $4 million in federal grants for Princeton that was tailored towards climate change science. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued of one program that “its focus on alarming climate scenarios fosters fear rather than rational, balanced discussion.” Of another canceled initiative, he wrote that “using federal funds to perpetuate these narratives does not align with the priorities of this administration.”
