The Trump administration this week said it would stop funding the Arctic Report Card, the longstanding federal effort to synthesize the latest research about the fastest warming place on Earth, PBS NewsHour reported on August 13 [1]. Twila Moon, a glaciologist and deputy lead scientist for the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, is one of the lead independent editors, and she told the program the team is now working to keep the synthesis going without that support [1].
Moon framed the loss as a loss of usable knowledge, not just a line item. Speaking to PBS NewsHour's William Brangham, she said the editors and authors have "spent two decades building tools, resources, and a really trusted resource," drawing on "usually more than 100 authors from a dozen countries" [1]. The value of that work, she argued, is in the synthesis rather than the raw files: "the simple existence of data does not mean that people are finding that data and being able to access it, use it, and understand what it means" [1].
What the report card documents, in Moon's account, is observation rather than argument. She said the effort is "specifically emphasizing direct observations of changes" and that "there's no arguing with reality. It's not a political position. It's a scientific resource" [1]. She pointed to why those changes carry beyond the region, noting that "what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic," from glaciers to native communities to global fishing and shipping routes [1].
The editors say they intend to publish the synthesis independently. Moon said the team will "do our darndest to ensure that this data is getting to those people who need it" [1]. The segment relayed the administration's rationale for the cut: it argues that such climate research is "plagued with misinformation and alarmism" [1].
