Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
NOAA has quietly reported that they will soon decommission 14 datasets, products, and catalogs related to earthquakes and marine, coastal, and estuary science. According to the list, these data sources will be “decommissioned and will no longer be available” by early- to mid-May.
Though NOAA regularly evaluates its data products to ensure they are still relevant, data sources are usually merged with or replaced by other products rather than outright removed. The agency did this just 7 times in 2024 and 6 times in 2023.
On social media, scientists are urging their colleagues to access and download these data before they are removed so that scientific analyses can continue and the value of the data is not lost.
The announcement of the removals comes days after environmental and science groups sued the Trump administration for the removal of climate and environmental justice websites and data.
“The public has a right to access these taxpayer-funded datasets,” Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement about the lawsuit. “From vital information for communities about their exposure to harmful pollution, to data that help local governments build resilience to extreme weather events, the public deserves access to federal datasets. Removing government datasets is tantamount to theft.”
—Kimberly M. S. Cartier (@astrokimcartier.bsky.social), Staff Writer
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