U.S. environment satellites in jeopardy: scientists

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Environmental satellites that monitor global warming are in jeopardy because of cost cuts, as military and human spaceflight programs get larger shares of the U.S. budget, a science policy expert said on Wednesday.

"Environmental research and development has been hit particularly hard over the last few years ... The satellite capability that's projected over the next few years looks pretty bleak," said Kei Koizumi, an expert on science budget policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Budget cuts will mean that some existing satellites won't be replaced when they reach the end of their lifespans and some other planned satellite launches have been canceled.

Earth-observing satellites watch for oncoming storms and forecast daily weather as well as looking for signs of global warming and other phenomena. Weather forecasters who rely on their data would also be affected by any gaps in service.

This week, scientists using NASA's Aura satellite reported the Arctic ice cap is melting about three times faster than computer models suggested.

Koizumi said the squeeze on environmental-observation programs, including those that watch from Earth's surface as well as those in space, is part of an overall reduction in money for domestic programs in the proposed 2008 budget.

"In the overall budget, Congress and the president have so far reduced domestic spending as the primary way of reducing the deficit," Koizumi said by telephone. "And clearly they have not reduced military spending. In fact it keeps growing, primarily because the cost of our war keeps increasing ...

"There are several ways to try to control a budget deficit and policy makers so far have chosen one way, which directly impacts many of these civilian research programs," he said.