Science

The Trump administration is moving forward with potential termination of two NASA missions critical for monitoring climate change factors such as greenhouse gas emissions and plant health. This decision, part of the fiscal year 2026 budget request, aims to align with Trump's priorities but has sparked concerns from scientists, policymakers, and farmers. Scientists and advocates are urging Congress to oppose the funding cuts, emphasizing the importance of these missions for understanding climate impacts. With Congress yet to finalize the budget, alternative funding sources from international partners or private sectors are being explored to keep the missions operational.

NASA said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the missions were “beyond their prime mission” and being terminated “to align with the President’s agenda and budget priorities.”

But the missions — a free-flying satellite launched in 2014 and an instrument attached to the International Space Station in 2019 that include technology used in the Hubble Space Telescope — still are more sensitive and accurate than any other systems in the world, operating or planned, and a “national asset” that should be saved, said David Crisp, a retired NASA scientist who led their development. They helped scientists discover, for example, that the Amazon rain forest emits more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, while boreal forests in Canada, Russia and places where permafrost is melting absorb more than they emit, Crisp said.

In 2023, an official data review found that the data stored there was "of exceptionally high quality," and they recommended continuing the mission for at least three more years.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the proposed rule change on for Tuesday in Indiana. Repealing the endangerment finding "will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America," Zeldin said on the Ruthless podcast. Zeldin called for a rewrite of the endangerment finding in March as part of a series of environmental rollbacks announced at the same time in what Zeldin said was "the greatest day of deregulation in American history.'' A total of 31 key environmental rules on topics from clean air to clean water and climate change would be rolled back or repealed under Zeldin's plan.

“As Americans reel from deadly floods and heat waves, the Trump administration is trying to argue that the emissions turbocharging these disasters are not a threat,’' said Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It boggles the mind and endangers the nation’s safety and welfare.” Under Zeldin and Trump, “the EPA wants to shirk its responsibility to protect us from climate pollution, but science and the law say otherwise,’' she added. “If EPA finalizes this illegal and cynical approach, we will see them in court.”

The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The EPA also called for rescinding limits on tailpipe emissions that were designed to encourage automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles.

"If there's an endangerment finding to be found anywhere, it should be found on this administration because what they're doing is so contrary to what the Environmental Protection Agency is about," Christine Todd Whitman, who led EPA under Republican President George W. Bush, said after Zeldin's plan was made public.

Conservatives and some congressional Republicans hailed the initial plan, calling it a way to undo economically damaging rules to regulate greenhouse gases. But environmental groups, legal experts and Democrats said any attempt to repeal or roll back the endangerment finding would be an uphill task with slim chance of success. The finding came two years after a 2007 Supreme Court ruling holding that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, and other critics accused Trump's Republican administration of using potential repeal of the endangerment finding as a "kill shot'' that would allow him to make all climate regulations invalid. If finalized, repeal of the endangerment finding would erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could prevent future administrations from proposing rules to tackle climate change.

"Attacking these safeguards is manifestly inconsistent with EPA's responsibility to protect Americans' health and well-being,'' he said. "It is callous, dangerous and a breach of our government's responsibility to protect the American people from this devastating pollution."

"The Endangerment Finding is the legal foundation that underpins vital protections for millions of people from the severe threats of climate change, and the Clean Car and Truck Standards are among the most important and effective protections to address the largest U.S. source of climate-causing pollution,'' said Peter Zalzal, associate vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The EPA proposal must go though a lengthy review process, including public comment, before it is finalized, likely next year. Environmental groups are likely to challenge the rule change in court. 

Describing their results as “staggering,” the researchers determined that 75 percent of the world’s population lives in 101 countries that have been losing freshwater for the past 22 years. Evaluating their 22 years of data, the scientists also determined that certain water storage loss “hotspots” previously assumed to be isolated were actually interconnected. These regions include U.S. Southwest, Mexico and Central America; Northern Russia; Alaska and Northern Canada; and, Middle East-North Africa. 

“These findings send perhaps the most alarming message yet about the impact of climate change on our water resources,” principal investigator Jay Famiglietti, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability, said in a statement. “Continents are drying, freshwater availability is shrinking, and sea level rise is accelerating."

To evaluate changes in terrestrial water storage, the researchers combed through more than two decades of satellite observations — from April 2002 through April 2024 — from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On missions. They defined terrestrial water storage as all of Earth’s surface and vegetation water, soil moisture, ice, snow and groundwater stored on land. Ultimately, the researchers identified robust changes in these water storage levels since previous global studies. 

These declines, they found, have been driven by high-latitude water losses in Russia and Canada, extreme losses in Central America and Europe and groundwater depletion — responsible for 68 percent of the losses alone. The researchers also identified a “tipping point” in 2014-15, years that meteorologists generally characterize as “mega” El Nino. In North America, El Nino years typically involve dryness and warmth in the northern U.S. and Canada, with increased flooding in the South. Near the tipping point, climate extremes began accelerating, leading to a surge in groundwater use and continental drying-up that surpassed the rates of glacier and ice sheet melting, per the study. 

Describing their findings as “a planetary wake-up call,” the authors stressed a need for ongoing research that can help inform policymakers about these dire water challenges. The researchers also advocated for community-level opportunities to make meaningful change, particularly when it comes to excessive pumping of groundwater.