June 18, 2026 — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has walked back plans to dismantle a deep-ocean observation system after pushback from members of Congress.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced recently the administration was planning to dismantle the USD 368 million (EUR 321 million) Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI consisted of multiple underwater monitoring arrays, which provide openly accessible data to oceanographers, researchers, educators, and the public and contributed to everything from storm forecasting to fishery health.