The Trump administration will end a satellite program that helped provide data used in weather forecasting at the end of July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday.
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, which has been operated by the Defense Department since the 1960s, accumulates environmental data from satellites that the National Weather Service uses to predict hurricane and other dangerous weather formations.
According to the NOAA, the Navy will cease to process or upload this data as of Aug. 1.
In a statement to CBS News, NOAA spokesperson Kim Doster described the change as a "routine process of data rotation and replacement" and said the NWS has other methods that "are fully capable of providing a complete suite of cutting-edge data and models that ensure the gold-standard weather forecasting the American people deserve."
Brian Tang, a researcher at the University at Albany who studies hurricanes, told NPR that he was surprised by the decision, "given how important it is for forecasting hurricanes and monitoring important features like sea ice. This is data that forecasters use regularly."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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