Climate Science Under Threat: US Funding Cuts Impact Australian Weather Forecasting

Australian climate scientists have raised serious concerns that funding cuts to major US science agencies are compromising Australia’s ability to forecast weather and model climate patterns, with implications reaching far beyond immediate weather predictions.

In testimony before the Senate inquiry on misinformation and disinformation in climate and energy, Associate Professor Ailie Gallant from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century revealed that critical US data sets underpinning Australian forecasts have ceased updating since the Trump administration returned to power.

“A lot of the data we use has not been available or has not been updated,” Gallant told senators. “This has significant consequences for everything from daily weather forecasting to seasonal outlooks that farmers rely on, all the way through to long-term climate projections.”

The Centre’s submission details how US budget reductions at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could restrict global access to vital satellite and sea-surface temperature data. These cuts threaten the international cooperation essential for comprehensive climate monitoring, potentially creating blind spots in scientific understanding at a critical moment.

“Even partial restrictions or degradation in quality undermine our ability to understand Australia’s changing climate and prepare for future challenges,” Gallant explained. She emphasized that gaps in climate data collection could emerge “at a very inopportune time as global climate change accelerates.”

The repercussions of these disruptions cannot be quickly addressed, Gallant warned. “Once a satellite is down, it’s down. It takes years to build another one and put it back up.” This creates a potentially dangerous lag in monitoring capabilities during a period of accelerating climate change.

The issue extends beyond technical concerns into the realm of public trust. The Centre’s submission connects these scientific challenges to a growing problem: the proliferation of climate and energy misinformation eroding confidence in Australia’s most respected weather science institutions, including the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, and universities.

“Misinformation and disinformation directly undermine the functioning of scientific institutions and reduce the quality of public policy decisions,” the submission states. It highlights how false narratives—including attacks on scientific credibility and deliberate misrepresentation of climate uncertainties—are being amplified online and adapted from overseas disinformation campaigns.

Gallant expressed shock at what she termed “the resurgence of science being under siege,” noting that technology has facilitated the rapid spread of misinformation. More concerning is the personal toll on researchers. “We have frequently experienced bullying and attacks from anti-science actors,” she revealed, describing this as an increasing occupational hazard for climate scientists.

Although public trust in Australia’s science agencies remains “moderate to high,” the Centre warns this can only be maintained through bipartisan support and politically independent funding. Their recommendations include parliamentary recognition that scientific independence and open access to data are matters of national security and resilience.

The Centre has also called for safeguards against political interference in key agencies like the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, along with stronger public communication strategies to counter false narratives about climate and energy.

“Weather and science is a global effort,” Gallant emphasized to the committee. “We all contribute, but some countries are more influential than others. Defunding those programs has a significant effect on our ability to monitor what’s happening to the global climate and weather.”

The combination of reduced access to international data and declining public trust creates a dangerous cycle of uncertainty—precisely the environment where misinformation thrives. “Decreasing the amount of data available increases uncertainty,” Gallant explained. “And removing those models from the global pool means we have less information to work with.”

For scientists attempting to forecast floods, droughts, and heatwaves in Australia’s already volatile climate, this uncertainty presents more than a technical challenge—it potentially undermines the nation’s preparedness and resilience at a time when accurate climate information has never been more crucial.