A powerful El Niño is reshaping global weather — but NOAA research funding is shrinking
Unlike during the last major El Niño event, federal agencies are not ramping up research efforts this time, raising concerns among scientists.
Written by EGazette’s AI. The facts are drawn from cited sources; the analysis is the AI’s own.
A powerful El Niño event is already influencing extreme weather patterns around the world, but the federal research effort to study it is shrinking rather than expanding, according to scientists tracking the phenomenon.
During the last strong El Niño, federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ramped up research spending in hopes of improving weather forecasting models. This time, researchers say that level of investment is not being matched.
Stakes for forecasting
Scientists argue that studying a super El Niño while it is actively unfolding offers a unique opportunity to refine forecasting tools that could ultimately help save lives by improving early warnings for extreme weather events linked to the phenomenon, including floods, droughts and storms.
With NOAA scaling back research in this area, some scientists worry that a valuable window for improving long-term forecasting capability could be missed, even as the current El Niño continues to shape weather conditions globally.
Sources
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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