NSF cancels – The National Science Foundation halted a controversial plan to remove most of the Ocean Observatories Initiative arrays from the Pacific and Atlantic after pushback from lawmakers, researchers, and ocean advocates. NSF said it will keep the remaining arrays op
By midnight, what looked like a dismantling project had effectively been put on pause.
The Trump administration reversed course on a plan to remove four of five ocean monitoring arrays from the Pacific and Atlantic after intense opposition from members of Congress. researchers. and ocean advocacy groups. The National Science Foundation said the reversal is immediate: NSF will not proceed with further removal or equipment descoping from the remaining arrays and will continue operations. including planned maintenance.
An array taken from coastal waters off Oregon earlier in June will be redeployed after servicing, the agency said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who helped lead a bipartisan group of senators pushing for the reversal, called the decision to leave the arrays in place “a massive win for coastal communities and fishermen around the country.”
Just a day earlier, Murkowski and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, had won unanimous support from the Senate for a two-page bill stating that no federal funds should be used to decommission the system until after a “thorough review and assessment.”
Murkowski said in a statement that the moment showed Congress and the executive branch working in real time. “The data accessed through OOI is a game changer for so many. and I’m immensely grateful that NSF listened to our calls. ” she said. “Today we saw the federal process at work – with Congress advocating and the Executive taking decisive action.”.
Merkley didn’t mince words about the earlier proposal. “Dismantling the OOI was supreme stupidity,” he said, adding that the fight would continue “to ensure scientists, fishermen, and coastal communities can continue to utilize the critical data the OOI provides.”
The dispute centered on a plan to dismantle most of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a network that critics said had served less than half of its intended lifespan.
The ocean initiative went online in 2016 at a cost of more than $360 million. Its arrays monitor ocean conditions, track marine heatwaves, and collect data on how the ocean influences hurricanes and other events.
Opponents argued that pulling the instrument network would weaken efforts to monitor fisheries and climate patterns, including the strengthening El Niño in the Pacific Ocean.
NSF said it will now convene an expert panel to review operational and data needs and help identify “a sustainable path” for the agency’s ocean observation systems. A 2025 report from the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine had recommended a similar panel to address concerns about the array—an effort opponents say is not cheap. The system costs an estimated $40 million or more to maintain.
The sequence of events left little room for doubt: a dismantling plan drew immediate resistance, then the federal plan shifted from removal to preservation, with an added step of outside review aimed at determining what comes next.
NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative OOI ocean monitoring arrays Pacific and Atlantic El Niño marine heatwaves hurricanes fisheries data coastal communities Sen. Lisa Murkowski Sen. Jeff Merkley National Academies U.S. Congress