France, June 8 -- The development is the latest blow to environmental and climate research, which has faced repeated budget cuts implemented since US President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January 2025.

More than 900 deep-sea instruments anchored near the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland are to be removed from this month, according to a report last week in The New York Times.

The devices are part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a programme primarily funded by the federal government through the US National Science Foundation.

The $368 million (€319 million) deep ocean observation system began operating in 2016 and was expected to continue collectin...