Satellite cutbacks could leave us blind at the poles

The union of weather and climate monitoring is not a happy one – and a US attempt at matchmaking means we may miss out on important climate data.

In 1994, the US government decided to replace its separate climate and weather instruments with a fleet of satellites holding both. The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System was intended to save money, but by late 2005, it was more than 25 per cent over its $6.5 billion budget. This triggered cutbacks that eliminated two of the six planned satellites and delayed the launch of the first replacement climate instruments by five years until 2013.

The burden of the cuts has fallen heaviest on climate scientists, and if the old instruments fail it will create gaps in data covering microwave measurements of sea-surface temperature, the hydrological cycle, and sea ice.

New Scientist