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Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

theguardian.com

111–120 of 167 posts

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But Hanlon's razor ought to apply until shown otherwise I'm no longer willing to grant this administration this privilege. The last few months were an utter clownshow of corruption.

It just isn't helpful to assume malice. Even for the most ardent, ideological Heartland Institute or Heritage Foundation conservative, there is still a path forward in discussing unintended consequences. Just look at the post-Liberation Day rollback of blanket tariffs. At some point, the consequences of actions are felt. Systems respond even when the firmest hand tries to steady them. At some point you take your hand…

> At some point, the consequences of actions are felt.

yup, and that's when a Democrat comes in, fixes the worst of the mess, and then a Republican comes in whining about soooo much change. And fiscal stability. And god knows what else. And then, they cut taxes for the rich again and seriously hike the debt.

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#112

NOAA-20 is better and will still be available. Also from NOAA: “Noaa said they would not affect the quality of forecasting.” Decommissioning old sensors?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA_under_the_second_presiden...

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#113
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What do you do when you don't have the data to accurately price risk? Insurance companies will just be sending up their own satellites, and that is the true goal. Force people to pay money to private entities for a service that used to be provided by the government for free. Functionally, in such a system there is no difference between that and regular taxes, just in a private system there's opportunities for those…

Except they won't. There's no reason to expensively launch your own forecasting system when you can instead just wait for someone else to do it and then use their insurance rates to do your own forecasting. Which is why the government running satellites it would need to run anyway is much more efficient.

> There's no reason to expensively launch your own forecasting system when you can instead just wait for someone else to do it and then use their insurance rates to do your own forecasting.

Indeed but who's going to do that? The US government will, more likely than not, have lost the ability entirely, and Europe... good luck waiting on us.

> Which is why the government running satellites it would need to run anyway is much more efficient

Indeed. But there is no opportunity for continuous recurring grift revenue in that, and that is all that drives the current administration.

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#114
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idiots will buy it. The courts won’t. Cutting off the data stymies the latter.

The courts are compelled to defer to SCOTUS, which has demonstrated that it is ideologically aligned with the regime.

Regime indeed

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#115

“Researchers say the satellites themselves are operating normally and do not appear to have suffered any errors that would physically prevent the data from continuing to be collected and distributed, so the abrupt data halt might have been an intentional decision.” Wait, the U.S. aren’t even going to try selling the satellites? We’re just scrapping them?

Well there's your problem. They were tracking the arctic! That means they were bad satellites that hurt people. They contradict the government's idea that climate science doesn't exist

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#116
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a bad article. They shut down this specific program in 2015, and switched to JPSS instead. There is no war on anyone, and this has nothing to do with Trump, DOGS, or Climate change. Rather there were too many satellite failures, leaving just a single operating one in orbit.

There was no reason not to continue providing the data from the satellite. It’s still operational.

Funding was stopped by congress in 2015. The time to complain about this was 10 years ago.

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#117
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is clear to all except partisans who put loyalty to their party over their country. It's not like we're asking for SCOTUS to accept constitutional slights from the left side of the aisle, its about consistency of reasoning regardless of which party is involved. As you've noted, the conservatives of SCOTUS are working backwards from their desired goals rather than pursuing justice for all.

The ultimate test will be if any future Democrat president (assuming we have fair elections after 2025) is able to use the same powers, justified by the same rulings. I think most people believe that SCOTUS will do a 180 turn and come to entirely opposite legal/Constitutional conclusions if a Dem president tries to argue the same things in front of them.

well we've already seen one 180 degree turn in the past 3 years, the gutting of Chevron deference last year gave local judges massive power over the executive, and last week they undid that by removing the ability of district courts to make national injunctions

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#118
post #77
post #5

It's part of the Administration's war on ... Florida?

This is such a bad article. They shut down this specific program in 2015, and switched to JPSS instead. There is no war on anyone, and this has nothing to do with Trump, DOGS, or Climate change. Rather there were too many satellite failures, leaving just a single operating one in orbit.

This is true, however it does provide unending entertainment as seen by the top voted comments wondering how this is a secret war on the courts and Europe - lol

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#119
This is likely because the DMSP satellites are outdated: "In 2015, Congress voted to terminate the DMSP program and to scrap the DMSP 5D-3/F20 satellite, ordering the Air Force to move on to a next-generation system." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Meteorological_Satelli...

The GOES-R satellites seem to have equal or better resolution: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atot/4/4/1520-042... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOES-16

DMSP resolves to 600m, while GOES-R resolves to 500m (don't confuse it with the older GOES satellites mentioned in the article).

Re: Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

#120
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to say this -- the impact is to deep red states -- Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama. They all voted for this with extreme skew towards the current policies. What is the point of trying to save this satellite data if the very people most affected dont care for it?

I strongly suspect that said states will still find a way to get federal funds for relief, whether from the president directly (since Trump's stated plan is to replace FEMA with his own discretion) or, in an emergency, through a very quick act from congress. Of course, it's much cheaper to mitigate hurricane damage _before_ it's done so gutting all the planning related services as the Trump administration seems wont…

Republican governors will demand the aid and sometimes get it, but at the federal level it doesn't count against them to deny the aid. What are the constituents going to do, vote for a Democrat?

There may come a day when they have saved up enough grievance against the Republicans to look for an alternative. But right now they have a solid foundation of anti-woke grievance and they can be counted on to keep voting the same way.

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