The global ocean observation system weakened by the shutdown of an American monitoring network

A vast network of marine sensors is being dismantled by the Trump administration, and other programs are threatened. This will result in a loss of data essential for understanding global warming or predicting extreme events, according to researchers.

By Audrey Garric. Published on June 8, 2026 by Le Monde

La mise à l’eau d’un profilomètre, sur le « Coastal Pioneer New England Shelf Array », de l’Initiative des observatoires océaniques, dans l’océan Atlantique, au large des Etats-Unis, en 2023. DEE EMRICH/WHOI

Buoys drifting off the coast of Oregon, sensors anchored in the depths of the Pacific, underwater gliders continuously collecting data on temperature, salinity or currents: for more than a decade, the Ocean Observatories Initiative has been one of the most sophisticated ocean monitoring systems in the world.

This American scientific network is now being dismantled. The National Science Foundation, the US federal agency responsible for funding research, announced at the end of May the withdrawal of all its infrastructure. This decision comes amid budget cuts and attacks targeting numerous environmental research programs since Donald Trump's return to the White House in January 2025.

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