Overview
- The National Science Foundation has started recovering OOI moorings and sensors in early June, removing more than 900 in‑water instruments from arrays off the US west and east coasts and the Irminger Sea while keeping some cabled infrastructure and archives online.
- The programmatic pullback follows large NSF budget cuts for fiscal 2026 and a decision framed by the agency as a shift to 'evolving scientific priorities.'
- Scientists warn the removals will end real‑time subsurface measurements that forecasters use to track an imminent El Niño, monitor Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation changes and detect marine heatwaves, low‑oxygen events and chemistry shifts that affect fisheries.
- Lawmakers and researchers have publicly opposed the move, with some, including Rep. Mike Levin, arguing the timing risks hiding environmental damage and others saying the change is part of broader policy shifts that weaken peer review and international collaboration.
- Experts say the dismantling could ripple through global observing networks such as OSNAP, Argo and the Global Ocean Observing System and cite a recent study finding that cutting even a portion of the observing system would raise uncertainty in estimates of ocean heating by roughly a third.