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DEPT. OF HEADS IN THE SAND. Because if you can't document a problem, it doesn't exist, right? The A.P. reports:
The Bush administration is drastically scaling back efforts to measure global warming from space, just as the president tries to convince the world the U.S. is ready to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases.This means that when giant ice shelves break off and fall into the sea in the years ahead, we may not know about it, unless Congress works to reverse the administration's satellite downsizing plan.A confidential report to the White House, obtained by The Associated Press, warns that U.S. scientists will soon lose much of their ability to monitor warming from space using a costly and problem-plagued satellite initiative begun more than a decade ago.
Because of technology glitches and a near-doubling in the original $6.5 billion cost, the Defense Department has decided to downsize and launch four satellites paired into two orbits, instead of six satellites and three orbits....
The reduced system of four satellites will now focus on weather forecasting. Most of the climate instruments needed to collect more precise data over long periods are being eliminated.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
