On December 16, the Trump administration announced its intent to dismantle the National Science Foundation-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, one of the world’s premier institutions for studying the atmosphere in all its variety and complexity. The announcement came in a statement released to USA TODAY from Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
“The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado,” Vought said. “This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country. A comprehensive review is underway and any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.”
Founded in 1960, NCAR receives its core funding from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, which has been the center’s sponsoring entity from the beginning. In addition, some NCAR researchers and programs have received support through grants from NOAA, NASA, EPA, and other entities. Core funding from NSF to NCAR in fiscal year 2025, which ended on September 30, was around $123 million, or roughly half of NCAR’s total budget, according to Science magazine. NCAR employs about 830 staff, largely based in the Boulder, Colorado area.
Among the many accomplishments carried out by NCAR – in many cases through multi-agency funding and in close collaboration with scientists from around the country and beyond – are the development of wind shear warning systems for aviation that have saved countless lives worldwide since the 1990s and the creation of the first global climate model designed for university use, the Community Earth System Model.
NCAR’s iconic Mesa Laboratory, which opened in 1967 as the first building outside an urban center to be designed by world-renowned architect I.M. Pei, attracts many visitors each year.
NCAR has been operated since its inception by the not-for-profit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, or UCAR, through a cooperative agreement renewed through a competitive process and extensive review every five years. UCAR comprises 129 member institutions from across North America, all of which offer research and education programs in the atmospheric or related sciences. Along with carrying out administrative tasks for NCAR, UCAR manages a set of smaller programs that carry out education, training, field program support, and other activities related to the Earth and atmospheric sciences. Thousands of scientists from across the world are involved with NCAR and UCAR in myriad ways.
In a statement released late Tuesday, December 16, UCAR President Antonio Busalacchi said, “NSF NCAR’s research is crucial for building American prosperity by protecting lives and property, supporting the economy, and strengthening national security. Any plans to dismantle NSF NCAR would set back our nation’s ability to predict, prepare for, and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters.”
In an email, climate modeling expert Dr. Ricky Rood said, “The loss of NCAR climate modeling and computing capacity would cause severe damage to climate science and education across the country. The consequences reach far beyond the center itself. Hopefully in its charter and its partnerships with U.S. universities, there will be levers to challenge these actions in court.”
The announcement by Vought on closing NCAR may also be part of a broader pushback against Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and other state Democrats. According to an article in the Washington Post today, “The move comes as Republicans have escalated their attacks on Polis and others in the state for their handling of a case involving Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted in state court on felony charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. President Donald Trump announced last week that he is pardoning Peters, who is serving a nine-year sentence, but it is unclear whether Trump has that authority, because she was not convicted in federal court.”
Commentary from Bob Henson
When I was a 10-year-old in Oklahoma, already keenly interested in weather, I saw a photo of the dramatic NCAR Mesa Laboratory in an encyclopedia entry on the atmosphere. Little could I imagine that I would end up working in the UCAR/NCAR communications office for more than 25 years, until I joined Weather Underground and began collaborating with Jeff Masters in 2015.
Working at NCAR and UCAR was an enormous privilege and one of the great joys of my life. In the process of putting together weekly staff newsletters, a university-facing newsletter, and annual reports, plus helping to develop exhibits, I gained a humbling appreciation for the intricacy of the atmosphere, and I learned to appreciate the beauty of understanding it a little bit better each day.
One reason the atmosphere (including both weather and climate) is so complex is that it doesn’t pay any attention to national borders or other artificial boundaries. From the outset, NCAR’s research has extended “from the ocean floor to the Sun’s core,” as it’s been put. Climate research has never been the only focus of NCAR, but it’s always been an important division of the lab — one reason why the founders wisely chose the name NCAR and not the National Center for Weather Research. At that time (the late 1950s), the United States was carrying out precious little coordinated basic research into weather, climate, or any other atmospheric process. More broadly, national policy makers were realizing that basic research was not only a matter of national strength and security but a wellspring for discoveries that can enrich our lives in countless ways, many of which aren’t even apparent at first.
In laying out plans for an ambitious research agenda, NCAR’s founders called for “a coordinated, interdisciplinary approach to these problems on a scale not possible in individual university departments.” That’s why NCAR is so much more than a Colorado-based center. It serves researchers across the United States and beyond, and its benefits accrue to the entire world’s understanding of how our atmosphere works, from the ways in which tropical waves develop into hurricanes to the future of clouds, heat, and precipitation on a warming planet.
Whatever may happen in the wake of the December 16 announcement, it is incredibly unsettling to hear that an institution that has benefited so many is at risk of being dismantled so abruptly.
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Great Job Bob Henson and Jeff Masters & the Team @ Yale Climate Connections Source link for sharing this story.
