Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast.
Nine seismic stations in Alaska are set to go dark this month, leaving tsunami forecasters without important data used to determine whether an earthquake will send a destructive wave barreling toward the West Coast.
The stations relied on a federal grant that lapsed last year; this fall, the Trump administration declined to renew it. Data from the stations helps researchers determine the magnitude and shape of earthquakes along the Alaskan Subduction Zone, a fault that can produce some of the most powerful quakes in the world and put California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii at risk.
Losing the stations could lead Alaska’s coastal communities to receive delayed notice of an impending tsunami, according to Michael West, the director of the Alaska Earthquake Center. And communities farther away, like in Washington state, could get a less precise forecast.
A NOAA grant for about $300,000 each year had supported the stations.
Have a feeling this figure will come up after a disaster.
Doubt it. California, Oregon, and Washington state are at risk, Trump doesn’t give a shit about them.
I am hoping that they decide to fund their own weather stations as a coalition.
This is what winning looks like?
This is what happens when you sit on your hands during election nights.
Yeah, this is giving me “disbanding the watchdog organization in Wuhan, China to save taxpayer dollars” vibes.
the fact this was so under reported and talked about is just crazy. I mean the timing could not be worse if it was planned. It was something like nov. 2019 when the last people were pulled out.
Dibs on conspiracies that China is building a tsunami-anator and is going to use it against Alaska.
China can literally do nothing, and the Trump Regime would destroy America. They will likely follow Sun-Tzu’s advice and let nature takes it natural course.
Yes, but how do they make money for daddy Trump and his cronies? Tornados don’t really affect him so why have his personal piggy bank (the US government) pay money for these things. Better to give tax breaks to Apple so that they give him another golden award.
Yeah and if a tsunami hits, the likes of which the world has never seen, the response will be, “How could we possibly have known? Oh well tens of thousands dead. Thoughts and prayers.”
I think I’m going to cancel our tsunami insurance
