Overview
- The National Science Foundation has begun phased ship operations to recover most OOI moorings and sensors, with more than 900 in‑water instruments scheduled for retrieval and real‑time measurements ending as hardware is brought aboard.
- NSF will keep some cabled infrastructure and the OOI data archives in place through at least September 30, 2028, but most continuous subsurface monitoring in remote US coastal and Irminger Sea sites will stop.
- Scientists warn the lost observations will hinder detection and forecasting of an expected El Niño, reduce ability to track Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation variability, and weaken monitoring of marine heatwaves and low‑oxygen events that affect fisheries.
- The OOI costs about $56 million a year to run while affected commercial fisheries and coastal industries generate billions, and a recent study found cutting portions of the global observing system would sharply increase errors in estimates of ocean heating.
- Researchers and advocacy groups say the removals follow NSF policy changes and administration proposals to reshape grant review and budgets, and they warn the move could undermine linked networks such as OSNAP and Argo and prompt broader scientific pushback.