Trump admin bringing down 50% of satellite microwave sensors in leadup to peak hurricane season

As I walk through how our hurricane forecasting systems work, and the important role different instruments play, I want to emphasize how the need to update and expand our technologies predates Donald Trump, and that our agencies have rarely had the necessary funding to adequately address the challenges posed by a changing climate.

Thus, the deep cuts made by the Trump administration have profound impacts across systems already treading water.

Hurricane forecasting requires multiple lines of data, which includes satellite imagery in the visible and infrared spectrums, hurricane flights, low- orbiting microwave sensors, buoys and stationary instruments, and more. Each sensor picks up on different energy wavelengths, and together they create a composite of a storm.

We use these technologies to understand the internal structure and movement of storms.

Without it, we're back in the forecasting dark ages.

At the end of this month, the department of defense plans to cut half of its low-orbiting microwave satellites as part of its ongoing war with climate science.

Those sensors detect at different wavelengths than our other sensors, allowing us to see inside the storm and follow a storm overnight, as sensors for visible wavelengths can't see at night.

This comes during a time in which rapid intensification of storms becomes more frequent, and storms can and have gone from minor hurricanes to major hurricanes overnight.