The Trump administration is dismantling a $386 million network of over 900 ocean sensors funded by the National Science Foundation, causing scientists to lose a critical climate record. A key portion of the Ocean Observatories Initiative will go dark this month when researchers board a vessel off the Oregon coast to retrieve a buoy from 80 meters deep in the Pacific.
Network Shutdown Details
The buoy, scheduled for removal on June 16, is part of a system that has collected real-time data for over a decade. The National Science Foundation announced last month that most of the system will be dismantled by 2027, pulling instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and Greenland. The observatories tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change, and extreme weather, with data freely available for over 500 scientific publications. The project was expected to run for another 15 to 20 years.
In a statement, the foundation described the decision as a “descoping” aligned with a “nimbler approach” to prioritize evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies, citing a 2025 National Academies report on ocean science.
Impact on Climate Research
Scientists and researchers who rely on the data find the timing particularly damaging. An El Niño event is predicted to arrive along the Pacific coast this summer, with a marine heat wave already pushing warm water off California. Without the moorings and underwater gliders, researchers lose the ability to measure subsurface oceanographic signals. Ed Dever, a professor at Oregon State University who helped lead the initiative’s Pacific Northwest operations, called it “a crippling loss of information.” Satellites can only gather surface data, not information on low-oxygen zones below.
The initiative launched in 2015 after over a decade of planning and construction, designed as a 25- to 30-year project. Detecting meaningful climate signals requires at least three decades of continuous data. “We’ve just got to the 10 year record,” Dever said, “which will give you some hints, but it won’t continue on.”
Remaining Infrastructure
One significant piece will remain: a seafloor cable network managed by the University of Washington off the Pacific Northwest coast, which will continue providing data on volcanic and seismic activity.
Scientists had seen warning signs in the administration’s proposed 2026 budget, which included a 55% cut to the science foundation. Official word to begin shutting down arrived in early May. The initiative was coordinated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with the University of Washington and Oregon State University, and past partners including Rutgers University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It operated on roughly $48 million per year, excluding research vessel costs.
Prior to budget cuts beginning in 2025, 60 to 70 people worked directly on the project. Dever noted that this dismantling is not unique, marking “the end of a federal commitment to basic scientific research” that has served the nation for 70 years.
