Without US satellites, ‘we go dark,’ says climate expert

US BUDGET cuts risk creating blind spots in Earth-monitoring systems that would imperil weather forecasting and climate research for years to come, the deputy chairperson of a key UN-backed climate monitoring body has warned.

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Peter Thorne is the deputy chairperson of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), a little-known but crucial UN-backed programme that tracks and evaluates data on the atmosphere, land and ocean.

"In the 30 years I've been in this game, we've always seen incremental improvements in our ability to diagnose the Earth system," said Thorne, who is also a professor at Ireland's Maynooth University.

"This is possibly the first time we're looking at an acute reversal in our capability to monitor the Earth, just when we need it the most."

Humanity has more data than ever about the planet - from balloons tracking winds and bobbing sea floats gauging ocean heat, to satellites with sweeping views of glaciers, ice sheets and atmospheric pollution.

But years of complacency and threats to funding from US President Donald Trump's current and proposed budget cuts in the US are raising fears over the future of this global effort to understand Earth. This matters for climate change, but also for weather forecasts that inform farmers and provide early warnings for storms, floods, heatwaves and drought, Thorne said.