US space agency NASA has expressed disappointment at CSIRO over plans to ditch a climate change monitoring project as part of reductions made to funding.
CSIRO is facing 275 job cuts, a lot of them to do with climate monitoring – Chief Executive Larry Marshall has said that the organisation needs to move away from monitoring climate change and towards learning how to deal with it, which sure makes it sounds like we’re kinda screwed.
AeroSpan, the program in question, measures aerosol levels in the atmosphere and is, according to NASA’s letter to CSIRO, “fundamental to several research areas, including climate, earth observation, air quality, and the solar energy resource.”
The letter was penned by NASA scientist Brent Holben, who heads up the project that uses the data collected, and discussed how the vital research would lose the bulk of its southern hemisphere capability if Australia drops out:
“AeroSpan is making an excellent contribution in serving the environmental science needs of Australia and the globe, and is an essential component of the global observing system we will need as we plan and adapt to the future. For these reasons I urge reconsideration of any actions that will lead to the decline or withdrawal of Australia’s contribution in this area.”
No one wants to be told what to do by some yanks but it might not be a terrible idea to listen in this case.
Photo: Getty Images / NASA.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
