Dr. Peter Neff
@icy-pete.bsky.social
Assistant Prof U Minnesota. Antarctic history from ice cores. Antarctic science. Views mine.
New attention on NSF Office of Polar Programs in the Senate: a proposal to make OPP a permanent directorate within the National Science Foundation. From Sullivan (R-AK), Murkowski (R-AK), and Hickenlooper (D-CO). www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/pre...
Hopefully repaired soon, but losing our only fully capable Arctic icebreaker for patrol and science support is on par with US readiness TBH. Newly purchased Storis maybe can fill some of the gap if this is a long repair… but future icebreakers remain years out.
Capt David (Duke) Snider@icenav57.bsky.social · 2w agoFed agencies joining TikTok, after DOJ updates. This after forced sale to US owners. Worrisome during present admin., given partisan use of agency comms. An important opportunity for future admins. Credible voices—scientists—must join TikTok or be irrelevant. www.yahoo.com/news/politic...
Several U.S. government departments now have TikTok accounts, including the FBI
Your American spy is officially on TikTok.
yahoo.com
I suffered through Kratsios' answer to Science: the Endless Frontier. The NYT summary is good, but there's more to it. And I should say that I welcome improvements to the scientific enterprise (which is why I'm participating in @alondra.bsky.social and Jenny Reardon's Public's Science project). 🧵
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
❄️⛴️Today from Congressional Research Service: "U.S. Research Vessels and Scientific Leadership in Antarctica." Timely summary of challenges for U.S. Antarctic scientists who depend on #icebreaker research vessels, which NSF now has none of. www.congress.gov/crs-product/...
congress.gov
Batten down the hatches: @zekehausfather.com reports that the strongest El Niño ever is likely to create dangerous conditions later this year and throughout 2027. *Disclosure: I have a special fondness for Zeke because he and I share a special fondness for the word "gobsmacked."
The Strongest El Niño Ever
With all the July runs in, dynamical models give a ~90% chance of a record-setting event
open.substack.com
Using an open-source pipeline to read every comment on OMB's proposed grants rule that could have significant impact on science and technology research funding, Christopher Steven Marcum and Abigail Haddad find the verdict "clear and lopsided": ~94% oppose it.
The Public Rejects OMB's Federal Financial Assistance Rule
Tens of thousands of scientists, clinicians, and ordinary citizens warned OMB about putting political appointees in charge of which research gets funded.
buff.ly
I collaborated with Seattle Times Climate Lab on the Big Four Ice Caves looking at the ice and the biota of this unique location. In June 2026 it is the smallest for early summer in the last 50+ years. It may not survive the summer. #glaciology www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Hunting for rare plants in the fragile ecosystem of Big Four's Ice Caves
The caves northeast of Seattle are succumbing to the Pacific Northwest’s hotter, drier summers and winters with dwindling snowpack.
seattletimes.com
That we don’t have regular weather balloon observations across the central US where daily extreme weather forms is INFURIATING. Without observations no model or AI can hope for good forecasting to save money and lives.
Anthony Edwards@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 4w agoIt's now been ten days without a radiosonde launched from the Oakland airport (KOAK) 😩 NWS spokesperson says they're awaiting delivery of "lifting gas" Qatar supplies a third of the world's helium (apnews.com/article/iran...) any weather friends know if this shortage will continue?
Also note the continued absence of regular radiosonde observations across nearly the entire interior western and central U.S... which has become a pattern as of late.
Anthony Edwards@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 4w agoIt's now been ten days without a radiosonde launched from the Oakland airport (KOAK) 😩 NWS spokesperson says they're awaiting delivery of "lifting gas" Qatar supplies a third of the world's helium (apnews.com/article/iran...) any weather friends know if this shortage will continue?
New: The National Science Foundation is preparing to claw back some $500 million in funds from some of its core science programs in physics, math, computer science, and engineering in order to fund a project from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
NSF plans cuts to core science programmes to fund White House initiative
A proposed clawback of already distributed research funds comes as the US agency’s budget is already squeezed and it struggling to clear a backlog of grant applications.
nature.com
Here’s Why Weather Forecasts Have Seemed So Inaccurate Lately. Meteorologists simply aren't able to gather as much data as they used to, and you're suffering for it. gizmodo.com/heres-why-we...
Here's Why Weather Forecasts Have Seemed So Inaccurate Lately
Meteorologists simply aren't able to gather as much data as they used to, and you're suffering for it.
gizmodo.com
At the end of the day, this visualization shows what's driving the rising risk of these dangerous heat waves. It's the human-caused burning of fossil fuels and the resulting increase in greenhouse gases. That's it. More climate change indicators: zacklabe.com/climate-chan...
Applications due next week - please share and apply!
Meade Krosby@meadekrosby.bsky.social · 2mo agoCome join our team! The UW Climate Impacts Group is hiring an early career social scientist to support climate change adaptation projects with our federal, Tribal, state, and local partners. Applications due July 2. Please share widely! ➡️ cig.uw.edu/2026/06/join...
NZ prime minister wants to “brutally commercialize our science system.” 👀 As with the US currently, what can you commercialize if you destroy your university based science innovation system? Feeling for my Kiwi colleagues (VUW alum here). 🇳🇿
samuel mehr@mehr.nz · last mo.this right here is why New Zealand is going to lose a generation, or more, of scientific talent — and will probably also contribute to Luxon losing his job #nzpol
So the US National Science Foundation (NSF) is diverting a large amount of public money for basic science into areas of science that already well funded by investors and for profit companies. This will continue to undermine the pipeline of trained scientists and engineers from higher education. 🧪
Science Magazine@science.org · last mo.Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. https://scim.ag/4xY2KCm
Remember X-Labs? Without transparency, and in defiance of Congress, a new memo to NSF directs “program managers to stop seeking funding for any proposals, even those that received the highest marks from outside reviewers and program staff, “until we are able to provide more details.”
Science Magazine@science.org · last mo.Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. https://scim.ag/4xY2KCm
Basic science funding slashed to free up funds for ~6 labs to get up to $300 million apiece.
Science Magazine@science.org · last mo.Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. https://scim.ag/4xY2KCm
A major upheaval in US science funding that runs counter to the direction of Congress and the people. Cuts across NSF to give millions to “X-Labs” which are a new condition to funnel funding to industry with limited oversight and transparency.
Science Magazine@science.org · last mo.Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. https://scim.ag/4xY2KCm
New: NSF is tightening its conflict of interest rules in what could be a headache for the understaffed agency. Starting in August, reviewers will no longer be able to participate in a panel with any proposals from their own institution. My reporting for @science.org:
NSF imposes stricter conflict-of-interest rules for grant-review panels
Researchers say changes could further burden the understaffed agency
science.org
Proposed WH OMB changes to federal grant making would be a horror movie for US science. NSF research funds, awarded based on merit to teams at US public universities, are what brought me—a kid from Brush Prairie, Washington and the first PhD in my family—into international #Antarctic research.
Friday science update. Gophers in Antarctica. Ocean instruments removed while working. White House wants to override experts for federal grants. Thwaites Glacier ice shelf may collapse soon (don’t freak!) in Antarctica, as @newscientist.com reports & @adrianluckman.bsky.social illustrated here.
As an ocean scientist, I'm frankly amazed at the attention the dismantlement of OOI has gotten, while the removal of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer (our only Antarctic icebreaker) and the failure to replace the JOIDES Resolution (our only scientific drilling ship) were met with near silence. 🌊
Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System
nytimes.com
Quite big news, providing a solid foundation of operational support for US leadership in Antarctica with implications for governance, science, and peace… congrats to NSF and KBR colleagues.
Dr. Peter Neff@icy-pete.bsky.social · 2mo agoGood NSF news; Office of Polar Programs awards 20 yrs of US Antarctic Program operations to KBR. $8B. Idealistic take: investment in US scientific leadership to maintain peace/governance. Cynical take: reminder defense contractors get NSF dollars to support our science. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-com...
Good NSF news; Office of Polar Programs awards 20 yrs of US Antarctic Program operations to KBR. $8B. Idealistic take: investment in US scientific leadership to maintain peace/governance. Cynical take: reminder defense contractors get NSF dollars to support our science. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-com...
NSF commits $8B to sustain U.S. scientific presence in Antarctica
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced today it awarded KBR Services LLC (KBR) the Antarctic Science and Engineering Support Contract to provide planning, management and execution support...
nsf.gov
Good NSF news; Office of Polar Programs awards 20 yrs of US Antarctic Program operations to KBR. $8B. Idealistic take: investment in US scientific leadership to maintain peace/governance. Cynical take: reminder defense contractors get NSF dollars to support our science. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-com...
NSF commits $8B to sustain U.S. scientific presence in Antarctica
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced today it awarded KBR Services LLC (KBR) the Antarctic Science and Engineering Support Contract to provide planning, management and execution support...
nsf.gov
Grateful to see affirmed that federal agencies can’t capriciously (& without regard for public comment) close our world-leading atmospheric research center (NCAR), especially if such actions are likely intended to punish a state being pressured by the executive branch on other topics.
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 2mo agoBreaking: Judge Jackson blocks NSF from dismantling NCAR. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72496...
The White House today announced it plans to make major changes in how the U.S. government manages research funding. https://scim.ag/43HgW4s
White House seeks to tighten political oversight of grantmaking
Sweeping proposed rule, now open for comments, would also restrict foreign collaborations and remove federal funding for open-access fees
scim.ag
🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n
