Article Courtesy: washingtonexaminer.com | By: John Siciliano | Originally published: May 10, 2018 | Please click here for original article.

[responsive][/responsive]

The Trump administration has cut off funding for a major NASA satellite-based climate change research program, according to the latest issue of Science magazine.

The magazine reported that even though Congress has successfully fended off much of the White House’s “broad attack on climate science,” a spending deal signed in March made no mention of NASA’s $10-million-a-year Carbon Monitoring System.

Unlike the satellites that provide the climate data, the research program that uses the data had no private contractor to lobby for it.

NASA spokesman Steve Cole told Science that existing grants for the program will be allowed to finish but no new research will be supported.

NASA declined to provide a reason for the cancellation beyond “budget constraints and higher priorities within the science budget.”

Phil Duffy, president of the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Mass., told the magazine the monitoring system is an obvious target for the Trump administration because of its association with the Paris climate change agreement and its work with other nations to help them understand their greenhouse gas emissions.

Many of the 65 research programs that the system supports are focused on tracking how global CO2 is stored naturally in forests, rivers, and other natural formations.

Many scientists blame carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuels for raising the temperature of the Earth, with devastating consequences such as ocean acidification, more droughts, and flooding.