{"id":34706,"date":"2025-08-22T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T09:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=34706"},"modified":"2025-08-24T17:23:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:23:46","slug":"trumps-cuts-may-spell-the-end-for-americas-only-antarctic-research-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=34706","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Cuts May Spell the End for America\u2019s Only Antarctic Research Ship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The decommissioning would leave the United States with no icebreaker to study the southern seas and cede scientific leadership to rival countries like China.<\/p>\n

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When it comes to the future of the world\u2019s coasts, few places on Earth matter more than the ice-choked, storm-tossed Bellingshausen Sea.<\/p>\n

There, the warm ocean currents whirling around Antarctica first wash up onto the continental shelf and bathe the vast ice sheet, making the region the tip of the spear for the melting processes that are raising sea levels globally.<\/p>\n

So when Andy Thompson, an environmental scientist at the California Institute of Technology, got a chance to go to the Bellingshausen next year, he seized it. There\u2019s so much to be discovered there that any expedition is the oceanographic equivalent of going to the moon, Dr. Thompson said.<\/p>\n

Now, President Trump\u2019s cost-cutting could take away the ship.<\/p>\n

Among the many deep cuts to scientific research in Mr. Trump\u2019s proposed budget is the abrupt termination of the Nathaniel B. Palmer, the sole U.S. icebreaker dedicated to Antarctic research. The budget also pauses development of a new vessel that was supposed to succeed the Palmer in the 2030s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The administration says the cuts will free up resources for America\u2019s three aging Antarctic research stations. But scientists said they would endanger decades of U.S. leadership in studying the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic coast, where waters warmed by the emissions from burning fossil fuels are melting the ice from below.<\/p>\n

After half a century in which the United States has had one or more ships devoted to Antarctic science, the Palmer\u2019s decommissioning would effectively cede access to the most unexplored region of the globe to other nations. And given how booked up those nations\u2019 ships are, polar veterans said the chances were slim that many stranded American scientists could easily hitch new rides.<\/p>\n

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The decommissioning would leave the United States with no icebreaker to study the southern seas and cede scientific leadership to rival countries like China.When it comes to the future of the world\u2019s coasts, few places on Earth matter more than the ice-choked, storm-tossed Bellingshausen Sea.There, the warm ocean currents whirling around Antarctica first wash up onto the continental shelf and bathe the vast ice sheet, making the region the tip of the spear for the melting processes that are raising sea levels globally.So when Andy Thompson, an environmental scientist at the California Institute of Technology, got a chance to go to the Bellingshausen next year, he seized it. There\u2019s so much to be discovered there that any expedition is the oceanographic equivalent of going to the moon, Dr. Thompson said.Now, President Trump\u2019s cost-cutting could take away the ship.Among the many deep cuts to scientific research in Mr. Trump\u2019s proposed budget is the abrupt termination of the Nathaniel B. Palmer, the sole U.S. icebreaker dedicated to Antarctic research. The budget also pauses development of a new vessel that was supposed to succeed the Palmer in the 2030s.The administration says the cuts will free up resources for America\u2019s three aging Antarctic research stations. But scientists said they would endanger decades of U.S. leadership in studying the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic coast, where waters warmed by the emissions from burning fossil fuels are melting the ice from below.After half a century in which the United States has had one or more ships devoted to Antarctic science, the Palmer\u2019s decommissioning would effectively cede access to the most unexplored region of the globe to other nations. And given how booked up those nations\u2019 ships are, polar veterans said the chances were slim that many stranded American scientists could easily hitch new rides.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34708,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34709,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34706\/revisions\/34709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}