The United States has removed hundreds of deep-sea instruments used to monitor the impact of climate change on marine environments, alarming scientists as the United Nations marks World Oceans Day.
Issued on: 08/06/2026 - RFI
A storm caused by the El Nino weather effect, in California, USA (illustration).
AFP/MARK RALSTON
The development is the latest blow to environmental and climate research, which has faced repeated budget cuts implemented since US President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January 2025.
More than 900 deep-sea instruments anchored near the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland are to be removed from this month, according to a report last week in The New York Times.
The devices are part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a programme primarily funded by the federal government through the US National Science Foundation.
The $368 million (€319 million) deep ocean observation system began operating in 2016 and was expected to continue collecting data for 25 years, The New York Times report said.
The data has been used by researchers to study how the ocean absorbs greenhouse gases, how marine heatwaves affect fisheries and how ocean currents influence weather.
Pacific Ocean warming fuels fears of powerful 'super El Nino'
The process of removing underwater infrastructure at four of five active observation stations is expected to last 15 months and has already started at a location off the northwest US coast, Jim Edson, its lead scientist, said in a note to researchers in May, seen by French news agency AFP.
In a statement, the National Science Foundation said the programme was not being cancelled entirely and described the plans as a reduction of elements, though it was not clear what data collection capacity would be left.
It "aligns with NSF's wider strategy of a nimbler approach to prioritise support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies," an NSF spokesperson said.
Dismantling the OOI would remove a major component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), a UN-coordinated framework for ocean data for weather and climate collected by several countries.
Ocean observations 'save lives'
Research published in Nature Climate Change last month showed how data losses in GOOS could degrade the ocean heat estimates that underpin things like El Nino forecasting and fisheries management.
Losing US observations would be worse than randomly losing 80 percent of all ocean data worldwide, this research found.
El Nino is a natural climate phenomenon that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing changes to winds, pressure and rainfall patterns worldwide.
Sabrina Speich, an expert in global ocean monitoring at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris and co-author of the Nature Climate Change study told The Guardian newspaper that "ocean heat content is the most robust indicator of climate change we have - not just of what is happening in the ocean, but of the entire climate system."
Removing US observations alone would produce a 163 percent increase in error for annual ocean heating rates, the paper found.
As high seas treaty takes shape, Galapagos proves that protection pays off
Samantha Burgess, the strategic climate lead at the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the European Union’s Earth observation programme told The Guardian that ocean observations are "irreplaceable" because "we can’t see the deep ocean from space." They "save lives" by warning us of severe storms.
The World Meteorological Organization warned last week that there is an 80 percent chance of the El Nino phenomenon developing between June and August this year, bringing changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns worldwide.
'Reimagining' the oceans of the future
The topic of ocean warming is one of several addressed as part of the United Nations World Oceans Day on Monday, 8 June, under the theme 'Reimagine: Beyond the world we know, a new relationship with our ocean'.
Oceans cover 70 percent of the planet's surface and play a vital role in sustaining life, providing oxygen, feeding billions of people and hosting 80 percent of the world's biodiversity.
One of the biggest challenges is getting countries around the world to agree to a common legal framework to protect oceans.
The BBNJ Agreement - or High Seas Treaty is the first comprehensive, cross-sectoral ocean treaty in decades. Its full name is the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction.
Adopted on 19 June 2023, after more than 20 years of negotiations, it entered into force on 17 January 2026.
Despite this historic achievement, the UN says more efforts are needed to ensure the health and resilience of ocean ecosystems.
(with newswires)
The development is the latest blow to environmental and climate research, which has faced repeated budget cuts implemented since US President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January 2025.
More than 900 deep-sea instruments anchored near the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland are to be removed from this month, according to a report last week in The New York Times.
The devices are part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a programme primarily funded by the federal government through the US National Science Foundation.
The $368 million (€319 million) deep ocean observation system began operating in 2016 and was expected to continue collecting data for 25 years, The New York Times report said.
The data has been used by researchers to study how the ocean absorbs greenhouse gases, how marine heatwaves affect fisheries and how ocean currents influence weather.
Pacific Ocean warming fuels fears of powerful 'super El Nino'
The process of removing underwater infrastructure at four of five active observation stations is expected to last 15 months and has already started at a location off the northwest US coast, Jim Edson, its lead scientist, said in a note to researchers in May, seen by French news agency AFP.
In a statement, the National Science Foundation said the programme was not being cancelled entirely and described the plans as a reduction of elements, though it was not clear what data collection capacity would be left.
It "aligns with NSF's wider strategy of a nimbler approach to prioritise support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies," an NSF spokesperson said.
Dismantling the OOI would remove a major component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), a UN-coordinated framework for ocean data for weather and climate collected by several countries.
Ocean observations 'save lives'
Research published in Nature Climate Change last month showed how data losses in GOOS could degrade the ocean heat estimates that underpin things like El Nino forecasting and fisheries management.
Losing US observations would be worse than randomly losing 80 percent of all ocean data worldwide, this research found.
El Nino is a natural climate phenomenon that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing changes to winds, pressure and rainfall patterns worldwide.
Sabrina Speich, an expert in global ocean monitoring at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris and co-author of the Nature Climate Change study told The Guardian newspaper that "ocean heat content is the most robust indicator of climate change we have - not just of what is happening in the ocean, but of the entire climate system."
Removing US observations alone would produce a 163 percent increase in error for annual ocean heating rates, the paper found.
As high seas treaty takes shape, Galapagos proves that protection pays off
Samantha Burgess, the strategic climate lead at the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the European Union’s Earth observation programme told The Guardian that ocean observations are "irreplaceable" because "we can’t see the deep ocean from space." They "save lives" by warning us of severe storms.
The World Meteorological Organization warned last week that there is an 80 percent chance of the El Nino phenomenon developing between June and August this year, bringing changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns worldwide.
'Reimagining' the oceans of the future
The topic of ocean warming is one of several addressed as part of the United Nations World Oceans Day on Monday, 8 June, under the theme 'Reimagine: Beyond the world we know, a new relationship with our ocean'.
Oceans cover 70 percent of the planet's surface and play a vital role in sustaining life, providing oxygen, feeding billions of people and hosting 80 percent of the world's biodiversity.
One of the biggest challenges is getting countries around the world to agree to a common legal framework to protect oceans.
The BBNJ Agreement - or High Seas Treaty is the first comprehensive, cross-sectoral ocean treaty in decades. Its full name is the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction.
Adopted on 19 June 2023, after more than 20 years of negotiations, it entered into force on 17 January 2026.
Despite this historic achievement, the UN says more efforts are needed to ensure the health and resilience of ocean ecosystems.
(with newswires)
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