Canada Losing Scientists As Its Climate Infrastructure (Ships, Satellites, Funding) Decays

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“If we train people and then cut out the funding they’re going to go to other places, because they’re valued in Europe and Japan and the United States,” Weaver told The Narwhal. “We’ve got to compete for talent and right now we’re not keeping the talent we have.”

The report zooms in on the fate of Canada’s climate change and atmospheric research program. Established in 2000, the program received $110 million from the government to invest in university-based research in climate and atmospheric sciences. Since funding for the program ended last year, Canada has lacked a dedicated funding stream for climate science, Weaver said. Among other research, the program focused on the changing Arctic ocean, changes in sea ice and snow (primarily in the Arctic) and weather processes.

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Climate scientists rely heavily on government-funded infrastructure, the study notes. Yet a “flagship” Canadian satellite for measuring atmospheric gases and ozone is now 14 years past its planned lifetime and planned science experiments on the 40-year-old CCGS Amundsen — an icebreaker and Arctic research vessel operated by the Canadian Coast Guard — have been cancelled due to a general lack of icebreakers.

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The 2019 federal budget proposes up to $21.8 million over five years to support critical repairs and upgrades at the Eureka Weather Station on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, the report notes. Yet the future of the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) is uncertain following the cancellation of the climate change and atmospheric research program. PEARL has been instrumental in monitoring and conducting research on atmospheric ozone. In 2011, the laboratory observed the largest ozone depletion event ever seen in the Arctic, “an event that may indicate the potential for climate change to compromise the recovery of the ozone layer,” according to the report.

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https://thenarwhal.ca/climate-scientists-leaving-canada-due-to-lack-of-funding/