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December 17, 2025<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Scientists Denounce Trump\u2019s Plan to Kill Crucial Atmospheric Science Center<\/p>\n The U.S. government is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, jettisoning key climate science projects in the process<\/p>\n By Andrea Thompson edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Mesa Laboratory at The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.<\/p>\n Loop Images \/ Contributor via Getty Images<\/p>\n The Trump administration is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), long considered the crown jewel in the U.S.\u2019s earth science infrastructure. Scientists who study climate, weather and other earth sciences have decried the move, first reported by USA Today, as \u201ctaking a sledgehammer\u201d to an \u201ciconic\u201d center dedicated to studying our planet.<\/p>\n \u201cNCAR is quite literally our global mothership,\u201d wrote Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy, on Bluesky. \u201cDismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet. Unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n The center, based in Boulder, Colo., has become a target because of what Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, described as \u201cclimate alarmism\u201d in a statement to USA Today. Weather modeling and supercomputing work also done at the center will be moved to other research hubs, Vought said.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The work to dismantle NCAR, founded in 1960, will begin immediately, USA Today reported, and will involve fully closing the center\u2019s iconic Mesa Laboratory.<\/p>\n \u201cNCAR is a unique & valuable asset\u2014far more than a climate model, or observations, or technology, or training ground, or gathering space,\u201d wrote climatologist Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, on Bluesky. \u201cIt covers weather, space weather, data, climate, paleo-climate, and everything in-between. [Its] building is an icon, but [its] iconic status goes far beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n The NCAR dismantling is just the latest target of a series of swings the Trump administration has taken to curtail climate change research and action, including massive cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and efforts to roll back Environmental Protection Agency rules to limit pollution.<\/p>\n NCAR employs about 830 people under the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit consortium of universities and colleges. The National Science Foundation contracts with UCAR to manage NCAR and provided about half of the center\u2019s operating budget for 2025, USA Today reported.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note (12\/17\/25): This article was edited after posting to correct the name of the Nature Conservancy.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 17, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Scientists Denounce Trump\u2019s Plan to Kill Crucial Atmospheric Science Center The U.S. government is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, jettisoning key climate science projects in the process By Andrea Thompson edited by Claire Cameron Mesa Laboratory at The National Center for Atmospheric<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[20647,2110,506,17185,3534,1436,516,384,71],"class_list":{"0":"post-37884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-atmospheric","9":"tag-center","10":"tag-crucial","11":"tag-denounce","12":"tag-kill","13":"tag-plan","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-scientists","16":"tag-trumps"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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