Congressional Democrats want answers as to why the Trump administration plans to end a data-sharing agreement that meteorologists consider critical to hurricane forecasts.
A group of Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee, led by Rep. Eric Sorensen of Illinois, introduced an amendment Tuesday to the National Defense Authorization Act that demanded information about the Defense Department’s decision to stop publicly sharing data from its Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
The program, which has operated since the 1960s, involves a constellation of weather satellites that take measurements on everything from thunderstorms to snow and ice cover. It’s one of the few satellite programs worldwide that collect high-resolution microwave data, which is seen as crucial for accurate hurricane forecasts.
“The sudden cut-off of mission-critical satellite weather data risks degrading hurricane forecasting and warnings just as we’re getting into peak hurricane season,” Sorensen said in a statement. “As the only meteorologist in Congress, I’m proud to be leading the charge with my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee to get to the bottom of DOD’s decision to end a decades-long data sharing agreement.”
