Climate Sensors Dropped From US Weather Satellites

[mnhtnbb]

This is from Science magazine, which requires subscription or pay per article. http://tinyurl.com/rkv83

I'll summarize:

16June2006 article describes the decision made 5 June by the U.S. government to "strip several climate instruments off a suite of polar-orbiting satellites intended to provide the next generation of weather and climate-monitoring data for military, civilian, and scientific users."


The National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program was born in 1994 as a joint project of the DOD and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with NASA
as a "junior partner". "For climate scientists, the alliance would combine NASA's expertise in building and flying high-quality research payloads with NOAA's commitment to operational satellites."

"We're seeing a disintegration of the U.S. environmental satellite system," says Richard Anthes, head of the organization that manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO.

"Essentially, NPOESS is saying NOAA won't be doing climate," says Kathie Kelly, who studies atmosphere-ocean coupling at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory in Seattle. "Basically, no one is going to do climate."



This is the response of the Bush administration to the threat of global warming. Cut back and forget collecting data.


"Twelve years into the program, and 3 years before the first launch, we are at a critical point where there is little room left to recover from further missteps,," noted Rep Vern Ehlers (R-MI). The chair of the House Science Committee, Rep Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), said, "How the hell can we do our job without sufficient information?"


Whoa! Angry Republicans?! These are guys who are getting fed up with the Bush Administration attack on science! Maybe we should drop them a line
applauding their efforts to get more funding.

[Gman]

1. If we don't monitor it, it's not happening

real simple science.

[tavalon]

23. It's a corrolary to the Rumsfeld Doctrine

If it's not recorded, it didn't happen. That's why Rumsfeld was so pissed about Abu Ghraib - he was mad about the pictures of torture, not the torture itself.

[alarimer]

2. Burying your head in the sand is not a good response

to global warming. I guess if they don't collect the data, they can't prove global warming. More of the Republican war on science.

[LSK]

3. SO THATS HOW BUSH SOLVES GLOBAL WARMING

STOP RECORDING THE TEMPERATURE!!!!

:think:

[City Lights]

4. Fucking assholes.

*&$^%&$*(**&#^&*$(%*&#^&

[Jara sang]

5. If the climate sensors are dropped then what good are weather sats?

Geospatial imagery?

[mnhtnbb]

6. Satellites will still carry 3 of original 9 instruments to monitor

weather and "collect climate information." Key instruments wanted by scientists have been dropped. The instruments that lost out gave priority to weather forecasting.

[mnhtnbb]

7. Original fleet of 6 satellites with 9 instruments would have

collected data on 55 environmental elements. New budget allows for only 4 satellites with 3 instruments. Instead of first launch in 2006 followed up by final launch in 2016, now first launch will be 2009 with last launch 2022.

[KansDem]

12. 2022? I can see the headlines now...

July 7, 2022

AP-Houston. Halliburton announced today it was canceling the final launch of the weather satellites program due to hot temperatures. "We just can't launch in 136-degree heat; the instruments are too sensitive!" said a Halliburton Space Industries spokesperson, displaying the kind of professionalism the United Corporations of American has come to expect from Halliburton since it took over NASA. President Jenna Bush reiterated the need to monitor the world's temperature. "Like, just like my sister, former President Barbara Bush, our uncle before her, President Jeb Bush, and our dad President George W Bush said, 'Global warming is a serious problem.'" "We need to do something about it!" Asked what she intends to do, President J. Bush replied, "Golly, like, you know, we need information. We don't really, like, you know, know if the world is heating up, because, like, I mean, we need the information the satellite would have given us, I think" "We need to, like, look at 'sound science.'" The President went on to affirm she will do something about global warming, just as soon as it is determined global warming exists. "We'll, like, you know, launch the rocket just as soon as it cools down." And to show the Bush Family penchant for "decisive leadership," she added "But not before!"

edited for clarity

[mnhtnbb]

15. LOL!

[xzyra]

8. not surprising, but really scary and sad anyway

God help us all.

;(

[Hugin]

9. Isn't Lil' Rickie Sanitarium trying to privatize weather data?

I read that awhile back.

[Ms. Clio]

11. I remember that, too, he was linked with AccuWeather

IIRC.

[tkmorris]

17. That is correct

Santorum wanted to get a bill passed which would prohibit the National Weather Service from providing most of it's data to the public for free, requiring instead that the data be provided to companies like Accuweather which would then package and sell it. It was the blatant privatization of a governmental agency, in order to allow private companies to make money off of information collected by the government and paid for by us, the taxpayers.

Just more looting of the treasury, made complex enough to almost get by the public. Almost.

[Ms. Clio]

24. Thanks for the additional information

Looting the treasury does appear to be one of their primary goals. And I can't help wondering just what was in it for lil Ricky?

[chill_wind]

25. !!!!

I hadn't read or heard that. The self-enriching corporatizing greed and contempt for the Ameican public is apparantly totally bottomless.

[kestrel91316]

27. Accuweather is run by Christofascists, IIRC.

[annabanana]

14. yup. . . God forbid there should be anything public

available to the public...

[bdamomma]

19. they want us keep dumb and vulnerable.

[mnhtnbb]

10. A better longitudinal record of an ever-changing Earth

was to be the result of DOD, NOAA, NASA getting together to form NPOESS (National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System progam".

The promise hasn't been realized "and there's a chance it may never come to pass."

[w4rma]

13. They are insane. (nt)

[madrchsod]

16. we will still have the euopean,russian,chinesse

sat information. the republicans can solve the problem but they are of afraid of the 5 million people who watch fox news each week.

[Robeson]

28. And thank the stars we do. Hopefully, others will keep the human...

...race going. I'm not counting on this country.

[lutefisk]

37. Do we?

"As the NOAA is the only current source of global climate information from satellites, researchers may have some difficulties in their climatological studies due to a lack of solid data."

http://www.thestormtrack.com/2006/06/if_they_cant_provide_it_then_i.html

[bdamomma]

18. they just don't believe in science

these right wing radial religious extremists fascists have got to go. this is totally insane where are we living?? in what era?

this regime must go. and take all your rapturists with you.

[Fovea]

20. In his novel, 'The House of God' Dr. Samuel Shem says--

"If you don't want to find a fever, don't take a temperature."

And Doctor Dumbya agrees.

[intheflow]

21. Angry NY Republican

They're the Republicans who have to deal with acid rain issues coming from coal burning and car emissions from the west. Also, possibly, a descendent of the Teddy Roosevelt environmental Republicans.

[pinto]

22. What a short sighted yet common trend from Bushco. Dismantle

dismantle, dismantle. Seems any sensible program is up for the block if it's not directly related to defense spending, tax cuts or a Republican election. It's really disheartening at times for those of us who believe in a broad role for the federal government in science and technology, health and welfare, and all those "human" programs.

[chill_wind]

26. This is a really disturbing, creepy development.

k&R

[kineneb]

29. any links to foreign weather services?

I have been using the NOAA website, but it sounds like their info gathering is going to be/has been gutted.

[mnhtnbb]

30. Try this

and scroll down to international/foreign

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stweath.html

[kineneb]

38. thanks, found great climate site

Check out the U. of East Anglia site...really good docs on climate change. Hard to refute actual graphs.

http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/

[Gloria]

31. Obviously, they're trying to head off Al Gores' next movie...

[symbolman]

32. This is an issue of National Security

What if the Alien Invaders in the future disguise themselves as "Weather"?

Soon we'd all be corralled, ready to be fed to the Alien Hordes.. except of course for Politicians whose job would be to act as Ambassadors, standing at the doors of the great halls, sniffing the Alien butts at each function to ascertain their name and social rank before announcing them at the big celebrations, and the Inaugeration of the "Cloud Monster" as our new planetary Dictator :)

Well, it COULD happen..

[sellitman]

33. The ostrich Initiative?

Sounds like good bushspeak name for this program.

[Toots]

34. Bush* did say he was "fixing" Global Warming didn't he?

Just like he "fixed" the CIA and NSA and virtually every branch of government that keeps America safe and sound.

[hatrack]

35. Kicking for anyone with the tiniest doubt remaining on Bush administration

I can't think of anything that more directly shouts "Mene, mene tekel upharsin" than this piece of idiocy.

I wonder what those "angry House Republicans" are going to DO about it. Anything?

[Lorien]

36. Kick

:kick: