Indian scientists have raised alarms over job cuts at the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, warning that reduced climate observations could disrupt India’s monsoon forecasts and cyclone tracking. The layoffs, part of the Donald Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce, have affected hundreds of meteorologists and climate experts responsible for weather monitoring and forecasting.
Union Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary M Ravichandran expressed concerns about the potential impact on weather predictions. He explained that fewer ocean observations mean less data for forecast models, ultimately reducing predictability. Climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll from the Indian Institute for Tropical Meteorology called the NOAA layoffs a global crisis, warning that they could weaken early warnings for floods, heatwaves, and storms. He emphasized that India’s climate monitoring relies heavily on NOAA’s models, with half of the Indian Ocean’s observational network supported by the agency.
Koll, a recipient of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar and an author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, described the cuts as a direct threat to climate resilience and disaster preparedness worldwide. He stressed that NOAA’s contributions are irreplaceable, providing critical data for weather forecasting and long-term climate projections.
India operates its own ocean observation instruments, including Argo floats, moored buoys, and drifting buoys, but NOAA plays a vital role in maintaining a global observational network. Koll emphasized that climate science depends on international collaboration, and no single country can effectively monitor the planet’s oceans alone.