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CBS News
2 days ago
- Science
- CBS News
Carbon monitoring data from Colorado State University shaky as federal budget looks to cut NASA funding
A research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University studies carbon monitoring data from two NASA satellites to make more precise climate change predictions for decades to come. Those satellites are now at risk of losing funding in the upcoming proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year. Senior scientist Chris O'Dell calls these satellites his babies. For more than 20 years, he's developed and worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories. "I'm always trying to look for new ways to use the data and to make the data itself more accurate," O'Dell said. When OCO-2 was launched in 2014, its mission was to beam back data to researchers by measuring how much of the sunlight reflected off the Earth is absorbed by carbon dioxide molecules in the air. OCO-3 was launched in 2019 as an attachment to the International Space Station. O'Dell says these instruments gather data that is difficult to attain from the ground. And with carbon measurements constantly changing, these precise data are groundbreaking. A happy accident came about when scientists working on the OCOs found that with "our instruments, we can actually tell on a specific day if they're doing photosynthesis or not, and that's really important. You can use it to predict crop yields if you fly overhead enough." Although it's very new, the United States Department of Agriculture has started to integrate the data. "It's just starting to be integrated now." But the Orbiting Carbon Observatories' future is now murky. President Trump's fiscal year 2026 NASA budget request states that both will close out and end next year. "It's a little bit painful, especially because they are functioning satellites, and they're really bringing down a lot of useful data, about emissions over cities that we can see for the first time directly," O'Dell says. O'Dell says his team got a directive to plan for a mission close-out in case they lose funding. OCO-3 would likely be turned off and remain on the ISS. But the free-flying OCO-2 would likely be destroyed by the same atmosphere it's meant to monitor. "You actually have to bring it down out of the atmosphere or out of the orbit. (It) will then burn up in the atmosphere," O'Dell said, meaning his life's work could literally go up in flames. Taking away federal funding would cripple research at CIRA. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of the Center on Energy, Climate and Environment at the think tank Heritage Foundation, says the private sector would take over. "We need to take a very serious look at what the government has to do and what it doesn't have to do," she says. "Technology is making constant progress, and private companies can take over. And we should let them, because our government expenditures are going up. (Funds) need to be spent in other ways." According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. has accumulated $37 trillion in debt throughout the nation's history, and the federal government has spent $1.34 trillion more than it planned for in fiscal year 2025. "It's like putting things on our credit card and expecting other people to pay for it," Furchtgott-Roth tells CBS News Colorado. She points to companies like Disney. "As technology catches up, private companies are going to be able to do jobs that the federal government didn't use to do," she says. "We need to be figuring out how we are going to get healthier balances for our children and grandchildren, so we do not tax them in the future with bills that we should have been paying ourselves." Disney partnered with Weatherbug and Weatherstem to forecast day-to-day weather at its parks. Weatherbug uses Severe Weather Alerts notifications that are issued by the National Weather Service, which uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both of those agencies are also at risk of losing funding. The budget approval has a deadline of Oct. 1, or there will be a government shutdown. CBS Colorado reached out to the White House and NASA, neither of which would comment on the proposed cuts since the budget has not been finalized by Congress. However, Dan Powers, a science advocate and the executive director of the nonprofit CO-LABS, says privatization isn't practical. "Who's going to step in and do this instead, with some rationale of it being faster, cheaper, better, etc.? The government agencies that provide daily assessments, research, and information sharing--it would be like going back to before any (current) technology existed as a resource to the country," Powers says. But Furchtgott-Roth is confident that companies can take charge. "We have the most advanced universities in the world," she says. "People from all over the country want to come and do research here in the United States, and I'm not concerned about losing our competitive advantage" (to other countries). Were that the case, though, O'Dell would have to think about plan B: "I would certainly look at all my opportunities. Going overseas or working in the private sector would probably be two pretty high items on the list. I mean, I hope that doesn't happen. I have every faith that I think we're not going to lose this funding. But if the worst were to happen, yeah, I would (leave the country)." O'Dell estimates both satellites could continue functioning into the 2030s, and he says the lion's share of their costs has already been spent. "It cost about $750 million (in) taxpayer dollars to design, build, and launch the OCO instruments." It costs must less per year to run them. The budget for the two satellites was $16.4 million for fiscal year 2025. O'Dell wants to be able to continue with the work of the OCOs. "It's been the greatest pleasure of my life, actually, getting to work on these missions, getting the public's trust," he says. "It makes you feel really good, maybe how you might feel as, you know, your child was really successful in high school or college or something."
Straits Times
11-06-2025
- Climate
- Straits Times
Colorado State continues to forecast four major hurricanes in 2025
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (CSU/CIRA & NOAA)/Handout via REUTERS HOUSTON - Colorado State University meteorologists on Wednesday left unchanged their closely-watched forecast for an above-average 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1, from their release in April. The outlook continues to expect four major hurricanes, with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour (178.6 km/h), among a total of nine hurricanes out of 17 named tropical storms before the season ends on November 30. In May, U.S. government forecasters issued a forecast for a similar number of storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes for this year. Colorado State forecasters warned that the outlook could change because of uncertainty over the development of El Nino wind shear conditions between August and October at the height of the hurricane activity. "While the odds of El Nino this hurricane season are low, they are still considerably higher than they were for last year's hurricane season," the forecast said. An El Nino is formed by cooler areas in the Pacific Ocean, and sends high winds across the southern United States, which can rip hurricanes apart. The above-average prediction is based on higher than average sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean, according to the forecast. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Mercury
29-05-2025
- Climate
- Mercury
Tropical Storm Alvin Brews Over Pacific Ocean
Satellite imagery captured Tropical Storm Alvin, the first named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season, brewing over the ocean near Mexico on Thursday, May 29. This imagery released by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) shows convection burbling over the Pacific Ocean on Thursday. The storm is expected to weaken into a depression by Sunday before nearing land, according to the National Hurricane Center. Credit: CSU/CIRA & NOAA via Storyful
Euronews
17-04-2025
- Science
- Euronews
What are milky seas? 400 years of sailors' stories are shedding light on ocean bioluminescence
ADVERTISEMENT 'The whole appearance of the ocean was like a plane covered with snow. There was scarce a cloud in the heavens, yet the sky appeared as black as if a storm was raging.' These are the words written by a sailor in 1854, after encountering the rare phenomenon seafarers called 'milky seas'. These glowing ocean events have baffled humans for centuries. The 'awful grandeur' the nineteenth-century sailor described - which made him think the end was nigh - we now know to be a form of bioluminescence : light emitted by living organisms during chemical reactions in their bodies. But this oceanic bioluminescence is still shrouded in mystery. To try and understand this phenomenon, researchers in the US have created a database combining 400 years of sailors' eyewitness accounts with modern satellite data. Related Toxic dust and stressed seals: What the shrinking Caspian Sea could mean for people and nature Millions of people are tuning in to watch a 24-hour livestream of moose migrating in Sweden The team at Colorado State University (CSU) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere say this will help research vessels anticipate when and where a milky sea will occur, enabling them to collect samples. 'Milky seas are incredible expressions of our biosphere whose significance in nature we have not yet fully determined,' says Professor Steven Miller, co-author of a new study about the database. 'Their very existence points to unexplored connections between the surface and the sky, and between microscopic to the global scale roles of bacteria in the Earth system. 'With the help of this new database, forged from sea-faring ships of the 17th century all the way to spaceships of modern times, we begin to build a bridge from folklore to scientific understanding.' What causes milky seas? From snow white to 'a brilliant and bright green', ghostly grey to turquoise, milky seas have been observed in various shades over the years. They cover a wide distance - sometimes over 100,000 square kilometres - and can last for weeks on end. This steady glow differentiates them from other, more common kinds of bioluminescence in water, like the flashing of plankton. They are so vast and bright that they can sometimes be seen from space. Milky seas are believed to be caused by bacterial activity - most likely from a luminous microscopic bacteria called Vibrio harveyi . This specific strain was found living on the surface of algae within a bloom by a research vessel that managed to take a sample in 1985. But as the milky displays occur only rarely, and typically in remote regions of the Indian Ocean , scientists have struggled to get the biological information to confirm this. 'It is really hard to study something if you have no data about it,' says Justin Hudson, a PhD student in CSU's Department of Atmospheric Science and the paper's first author. 'There is only one known photograph at sea level that came from a chance encounter by a yacht in 2019,' he adds, 'so, there is a lot left to learn about how and why this happens and what the impacts are to those areas that experience this.' Related Scientists were in Antarctica when a giant iceberg broke free. Here's what they found in its shadow HMS Erebus: Can archaeologists solve this 'mysterious puzzle' before climate change stops them? How are milky seas connected to climate events? The new database shows that sightings usually happen around the Arabian Sea and Southeast Asian waters. It also reveals that they are statistically related to the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño Southern Oscillation when sea surface temperatures vary. Since both these climate phenomena can impact global weather, the researchers are curious to know exactly how milky seas are linked to these patterns. 'The regions where this happens the most are around the northwest Indian Ocean near Somalia and Socotra, Yemen, with nearly 60 per cent of all known events occurring there. At the same time, we know the Indian monsoon's phases drive biological activity in the region through changes in wind patterns and currents,' says Hudson. ADVERTISEMENT 'It seems possible that milky seas represent an understudied aspect of the large-scale movement of carbon and nutrients through the Earth system. That seems particularly likely as we learn more and more about bacteria playing a key role in the global carbon cycle both on land and in the ocean.' He notes that the regions where milky seas occur feature a lot of biological diversity and are important economically to fishing operations - so there are significant local implications too. 'We have no idea what milky seas mean for the ecosystems they are found in,' adds Miller. 'They could be an indication of a healthy ecosystem or distressed one - the bacteria we suspect are behind it are a known pest that can negatively impact fish and crustaceans,' he says. ADVERTISEMENT 'Having this data ready allows us to begin answering questions about milky seas beyond hoping and praying a ship runs into one accidentally.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Cyclone Errol Shows 'Some Signs of Weakening' as 'Intense Storm' Swirls Off Western Australia
Cyclone Errol showed 'some signs of weakening' as it swirled off the coast of Western Australia from Wednesday, April 16, to Thursday, April 17. The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) released this imagery on X, which was captured from 9 am UTC on Wednesday (5 pm AWST on Wednesday) to 9 pm UTC (5 am AWST on Thursday). 'Cyclone Errol, while still an intense storm, is showing some signs of weakening after developing a strong central eye,' the source wrote. According to the latest information from the Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday, the category 4 cyclone would 'start weakening and move towards the west Kimberley coast today.' Credit: CSU/CIRA & JMA/JAXA via Storyful
