Scientists have taken to Twitter to talk about all the important work NASA's earth science program does, using the hashtag #ThanksNASA.
Weather forecasts, disaster planning, emergency response, agriculture, water supply & climate change monitoring.#thanksNASA@NASAEarthhttps://t.co/7IQrzJtCbi
— Michael Busch (@michael_w_busch) November 24, 2016
40 yrs ago I was first exposed to - digital! - #Landsat data; it helped us estimate suspended #sediment in estuaries - amazing! #ThanksNASA
— Elisabeth Kosters (@EC_Kosters) November 24, 2016The researchers who started and spread the hashtag have not called out any political figures or made any explicit political statements around it. But context is important.
On Wednesday, Bob Walker, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, told The Guardian that the new presidential administration would cut earth science research at NASA. He suggested that the agency would lose the more than 40% of its funding dedicated to understanding our own planet, and be instructed to instead turn its attention toward exploration and deep space research.
Why? Walker suggested that it has to do with NASA's focus on what he called "politically correct environmental monitoring."
NASA's earth science program is an indispensable source of data for researchers who study our planet's melting ice sheets and changing climate.
The results of that research could present a challenge for the president-elect, whose past statements run counter to the scientific consensus that the planet's climate is warming as a result of human activities.
Trump has also suggested that he would remove scientists who study the climate from federal agencies, and selected Myron Ebell, a man who has called climate scientists "global warming alarmists," to lead the transition at the Environmental Protection Agency.
NASA earth science data is used not only to look at climate change, but also to help predict hurricanes, track erosion, and study other subjects that require an eye on our planet from space.
Here are some of the tweets from scientists and others using the #ThanksNASA hashtag:
If you think this Grace gravity map is politicised, you've a warped view of the world. #thanksNASAhttps://t.co/GxclrEGaOIpic.twitter.com/NzQnr6RqjY
#ThanksNASA for building the satellites for NOAA that deliver weather data worldwide for so many useful and sometimes lifesaving forecasts https://t.co/M9FBCTYqdu
— Climate Ack!-tivist (@ddhelfrich) November 24, 2016#ThanksNASA for surveying the health of a changing planet with #IceBridge mission https://t.co/vmvZIJTaSE
— Laurie Juranek (@laurie_juranek) November 24, 2016#ThanksNASA for showing us the ozone hole B4 it became a crisis...and BTW for helping launch my career at GSFC.
#ThanksNASA for teaching me how the Earth breathes (net primary productivity) https://t.co/8SeDNHuoHc
— John Taylor (@CoppiceJT) November 24, 2016#thanksNASA for snowpack monitoring https://t.co/xaZq9jjHly
— Gavin Schmidt (@ClimateOfGavin) November 24, 2016
Historic low sea ice extent in #Antarctica. Couldn't have written it without the unique data #ThanksNASAhttps://t.co/TTXHcScWGo
— Mark Brandon (@icey_mark) November 24, 2016#thanksNASA for the satellite monitoring of clouds, ozone, temperature, energy fluxes, rain etc. pic.twitter.com/6fIfXzy5W6
— Gavin Schmidt (@ClimateOfGavin) November 24, 2016
So #thankful for this. https://t.co/3oRGPY4MzZ
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) November 24, 2016Are you a scientist who relies on NASA earth science data for your work? Email me at rletzter@businessinsider.com, tweet me at @RafiLetzter, or shoot me a DM and we can set up a time to chat.
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