Latest news with #DepartmentOfDefense
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Deep cuts to hurricane data could leave forecasters in the dark
Forecasters are set to lose some of their sharpest eyes in the sky just a few months before Atlantic hurricane season peaks when the Department of Defense halts a key source of satellite data over cybersecurity concerns. The data comes from microwave sensors attached to three aging polar-orbiting satellites operated for both military and civilian purposes. Data from the sensors is critical to hurricane forecasters because it allows them to peer through layers of clouds and into the center of a storm, where rain and thunderstorms develop, even at night. The sensors don't rely on visible light. Losing the data — at a time when the National Weather Service is releasing fewer weather balloons and the agency is short on meteorologists because of budget cuts — will make it more likely that forecasters miss key developments in a hurricane, several hurricane experts said. Those changes help meteorologists determine what level of threat a storm may pose and therefore how emergency managers ought to prepare. Microwave data offers some of the earliest indications that sustained winds are strengthening inside a storm. 'It's really the instrument that allows us to look under the hood. It's definitely a significant loss. There's no doubt at all hurricane forecasts will be degraded because of this,' said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher and senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. 'They're able to detect when an eye wall forms in a tropical storm and if it's intensifying — or rapidly intensifying.' Researchers think rapid intensification is becoming more likely in tropical storms as the oceans warm as a result of human-caused climate change. The three satellites are operated for both military and civilian purposes through the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, a joint effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense. While hurricane experts said they were concerned about losing the tool, Kim Doster, NOAA's communications director, downplayed the decision's effect on hurricane forecasting by the National Weather Service. In an email, Doster said the military's microwave data 'is a single dataset in a robust suite of hurricane forecasting and modeling tools in the NWS portfolio.' Doster said these models include data from geostationary satellites — a different system that constantly observes Earth from about 22,300 miles away and offers a vantage point that appears fixed because the satellites synchronize with Earth's rotation. They also ingest measurements from Hurricane Hunter aircraft missions, buoys, weather balloons, land-based radar and from other polar-orbiting satellites, including NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System, which she said provides 'the richest, most accurate satellite weather observations available.' A U.S. Space Force official said the satellites and their instruments in question remain functional and that the data will be sent directly to weather satellite readout terminals across the DOD. The Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center made the decision to stop processing that data and sharing it publicly, the official said. The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, a division of the Navy notified researchers that it would cease to process and share the data on or before June 30, and some researchers received an email from the Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, saying that its data storage and sharing program relied on a processing station that was using an 'end-of-life' operating system with vulnerabilities. 'The operating system cannot be upgraded, poses a cybersecurity concern, and introduces risk to DoD networks,' the email, which was reviewed by NBC News, said. The move will cut the amount of microwave data available to forecasters in half, McNoldy estimated. This microwave data is also used by snow and ice scientists to track the extent of polar sea ice, which helps scientists understand long-term climate trends. Sea ice forms from frozen ocean water. It grows in coverage during winter months and typically melts during warmer times of the year. Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, which cools the planet. That makes it an important metric to track over time. The extent of summer Arctic sea ice is trending lower because of global warming. Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said his program learned of the Navy's decision earlier this week. Meier said the satellites and sensors are about 16 years old. Researchers have been preparing for them to eventually fail, but they weren't expecting the military to pull the plug on data with little warning, he said. Meier said the National Snow and Ice Data Center has relied on the military satellites for data on sea ice coverage since 1987, but will adapt its systems to use similar microwave data from a Japanese satellite, called AMSR-2, instead. 'It certainly could be a few weeks before we get that data into our system,' Meier said. 'I don't think it's going to undermine our sea ice climate data record in terms of confidence in it, but it's going to be more challenging.' The polar-orbiting satellites that are part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program provide intermittent coverage of hurricane-prone areas. The satellites typically zip around the globe in a north-south orientation every 90-100 minutes in a relatively low orbit, Meier said. The microwave sensors scan across a narrow swath of the earth, which Meier estimated at roughly 1,500 miles. As the Earth rotates, these polar-orbiting satellites can capture imagery that helps researchers determine the structure and potential intensity of a storm, if it happens to be in their path. 'It's often just by luck, you'll get a really nice pass over a hurricane,' McNoldy said, adding that the change will reduce the geographic area covered by microwave scans and the frequency of scans of a particular storm. Andy Hazelton, a hurricane modeler and associate scientist with the University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine & Atmospheric Studies, said the microwave data is used in some hurricane models and also by forecasters who can access near real-time visualizations of the data. Hazelton said forecasters are always looking for visual signatures in microwave data that often provide the first evidence a storm is rapidly intensifying and building strength. The National Hurricane Center defines rapid intensification as a 35-mph or higher increase in sustained winds inside a tropical storm within 24 hours. Losing the microwave data is particularly important now because in recent years, scientists have observed an increase in rapid intensification, a trend likely fueled in part by climate change as ocean waters warm. A 2023 study published the journal Scientific Reports found that tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean were about 29% more likely to undergo rapid intensification from 2001 to 2020, compared to 1971 to 1990. Last year, Hurricane Milton strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 36 hours. Some of that increase took place overnight, when other satellite instruments offer less information. The trend is particularly dangerous when a storm, like Hurricane Idalia, intensifies just before striking the coast. 'We've certainly seen in recent years many cases of rapid intensification ahead of landfall. That's the kind of thing you really don't want to miss,' McNoldy said, adding that microwave data is 'excellent at giving the important extra 12 hours of lead time to see the inner core changes happening.' Brian LaMarre, the former meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service's weather forecasting station in Tampa Bay, said the data is also useful for predicting flood impacts as a hurricane comes ashore. 'That scan can help predict where the heavier precipitation and rainfall rates can be,' LaMarre said. 'This data is critically important to public safety.' Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30. It typically starts to peak in late summer and early fall. NOAA forecasters have predicted a more busy 2025 hurricane season than typical, with six to 10 hurricanes. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lockheed's Infamous Skunk Works Actually Tested Metal That Was Part Of A UFO Con Job
In an ironic twist several years ago, Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, the supersecret lab that developed stealth technology and that has been implicated in many UFO conspiracy theories, wound up getting a mysterious, possibly extraterrestrial metal fragment from the military. It had been sent for evaluation after the Army struck a deal with (I kid you not) Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge's UFO-research organization To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, who had bought the fragment in 2019. The Army legitimately wanted to find out if it could defy gravity. If this sounds absolutely bizarre, then you should read part two of a Wall Street Journal dive into the con-jobs-within-con-jobs that have defined the obsession with UFOs for decades. Part one explained that Unidentified Aerial Phenomena and the lore that has surrounded them was an psyop designed to distract the public and intimidate military insiders into keeping quiet about advanced weaponry. Part two chronicles DeLonge's debris — which was supposed to have come from a crashed alien craft in Roswell, New Mexico, and was according to the Journal acquired for $35,000 — and the efforts of a Department of Defense investigator to figure out whether it was legitimately not of this world. The report also shows that UFO mythology has taken on a crazy, some might say unhinged, life of its own. Read more: This Is Every Car Brand Killed By GM The DoD investigator, Sean Kirkpatrick, got Lockheed to hand over the mystery metal. He then sent it to a Department of Energy lab, where it was traced to an earthbound World War II-era project. It definitely could not defy gravity. Meanwhile, Kirkpatrick and his team were running down all manner of other UFO allegations, many of which involved the Skunk Works and people who claimed to know what had really gone on there. There were reverse-engineered alien lasers. There were crashed UFOs in Russia. There was an FBI raid of what wound up being an empty safe that was supposed to contain secret alien data. There was an actual Russian laser program that probably entailed UFO disinformation. The scale of the scam was astonishing, and we should be thanking the Journal for connecting all the dots. As Kirkpatrick pursued all this stuff, he predictably ticked off some of the people he had investigated, who clearly had a stake in keeping the UFO narrative from being debunked. Ultimately, the overall investigation concluded that UFO claims dating back to the 1950s were baseless. The UFO gravy train, however, shows no signs of ending. The original U.S. government UFO psyop was wildly successful. Whoever dreamed it up is likely long gone, but their work is being carried on by a generation of opportunists who are more than happy to insist that we ignore the laws of physics. And believe that the government still has something to hide. And continue to pay attention as they go on podcasts to unravel the greatest cover up that never was. According to Politico, Kirkpatrick himself thinks that conspiracy theorists are feeding on the Pentagon's reluctance to talk openly about UFOs. Of course, the most amusing aspect of the Journal's two-part foray into the convoluted realm of the big UFO story is that military secrets were being concealed at places like the Skunk Works. Secrets involving technology that you might have thought came from outer space. The F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, for example. Just imagine what real-world inventions the ongoing UFO myth is still distracting us from. Something might eventually defy gravity after all! Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
CBC
8 hours ago
- Climate
- CBC
U.S. government cuts key hurricane forecasting data from satellites
Social Sharing Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defence satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said it would discontinue the "ingest, processing and distribution" of data collected by three weather satellites that the agency jointly runs with the Defense Department. The data is used by scientists, researchers and forecasters, including at the National Hurricane Center. It wasn't immediately clear why the government planned to cut off the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's microwave data by Monday. The Defence Department referred questions to the Air Force, which referred them to the Navy, which did not immediately provide comment. In a statement, NOAA spokesperson Kim Doster called it a "routine process of data rotation and replacement," and said the remaining data sources "are fully capable of providing a complete set of cutting-edge data and models that ensure the gold-standard weather forecasting the American people deserve." Data helps identify rapid intensification Traditional visible or infrared satellites provide data that becomes images showing the structure, intensity and temperature of a storm, according to NOAA information, along with features such as lightning. But those miss the three-dimensional details of a storm. The microwave data gives critical information that can't be gleaned from the conventional satellites, and helps peer under a regular image of a hurricane or a tropical cyclone to see what's going on inside. It is especially helpful at night. The news is especially noteworthy during the ongoing hurricane season and as lesser storms have become more frequent, deadly and costly as climate change is worsened by the burning of fossil fuels. WATCH | CBC meteorologist looks at what's in store for this year's hurricane season: CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler breaks down this year's National Hurricane Centre forecast 1 month ago Duration 1:46 Microwave imagery allows researchers and forecasters to see the centre of the storm. Experts say that can help in detecting the rapid intensification of storms and in more accurately plotting the likely path of dangerous weather. "If a hurricane, let's say, is approaching the Gulf Coast, it's a day away from making landfall, it's nighttime," said Marc Alessi, a science fellow with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "We will no longer be able to say, 'OK, this storm is definitely undergoing rapid intensification, we need to update our forecasts to reflect that.' " Other microwave data will be available but only roughly half as much, hurricane specialist Michael Lowry said in a blog post. He said that greatly increases the odds that forecasters will miss rapid intensification, underestimate intensity or misplace the storm. That "will severely impede and degrade hurricane forecasts for this season and beyond, affecting tens of millions of Americans who live along its hurricane-prone shorelines," he said. Ending satellite access 'is insanity,' researcher says University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy called the loss of data "alarmingly bad news" in a post on Bluesky. "Microwave data are already relatively sparse, so any loss — even gradual as satellites or instruments fail — is a big deal; but to abruptly end three active functioning satellites is insanity." NOAA and its National Weather Service office have been the target of cuts and changes in U.S. President Donald Trump's second term. Already, hurricane forecasts were anticipated to be less accurate this year because weather balloons launches have been curtailed due to lack of staffing. "What happened this week is another attempt by the Trump administration to sabotage our weather and climate infrastructure," Alessi said. Canadian impact of NOAA cuts When the NOAA cuts were first announced earlier this year, Eddie Sheerr was among a growing number of Canadian scientists sounding the alarm about sweeping NOAA cuts made by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, then run by billionaire Elon Musk. Sheerr, a meteorologist with NTV in St. John's, said he uses NOAA's data and modelling "literally every day." "They have some of the best hurricane forecasters and meteorologists in the world. I rely on that data and their expertise heavily when tracking these tropical systems, as do meteorologists throughout the country," he said in a recent interview. "They provide life-saving information. Period." Sheerr said he was using NOAA data when he decided to phone Port aux Basques Mayor Brian Button the night before Fiona slammed into the community on Newfoundland's southwestern tip in September 2022. He said he figured people would tell the mayor they'd seen plenty of bad storms. "And I said, 'Brian, you haven't seen this before. And that's what you need to tell the residents.' " Sheerr urged Button to evacuate homes closest to the water, and Button took his advice. Fiona destroyed about 100 houses in the area and swept a woman out to sea. Data from NOAA makes Canadian forecasts and weather warnings more accurate, Sheerr said, adding that he worries the cuts will reduce the accuracy of forecasts and ultimately make it harder to predict the impacts of dangerous storms.
Globe and Mail
11 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Why Palantir Stock Is Sinking Today
Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock is losing ground in Friday's trading. The company's share price was down 4% at 12:40 p.m. ET despite the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite being up 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, at the same point in the day's trading. Palantir's valuation is retreating a bit today as investors take profits after an incredible bull run. Recent news that the U.S. defense budget will be slightly smaller this year than last may also be a factor. Palantir falls after hitting new high Palantir stock hit a new record high in yesterday's trading after the company announced that it had entered into a $100 million new contract to co-develop a new artificial intelligence (AI) software system with The Nuclear Company to facilitate nuclear construction projects. Some investors are taking profits on the stock, and the selling action is pushing the company's share price lower. Investors may also be reacting to the Department of Defense's budget request for a base budget of $848.3 billion for its 2026 fiscal year, which represents a small decrease over the previous budget after accounting for inflation. Even with today's pullback, Palantir stock is still up 83% across 2025's trading. What's next for Palantir? With today's pullback, Palantir now has a market capitalization of roughly $328 billion and is valued at approximately 239 times this year's expected earnings and 84 times expected sales. While the company's highly growth-dependent valuation potentially opens the door for big sell-offs if business performance comes in weaker than anticipated or macroeconomic conditions take a turn for the worse, the company has been posting impressive results and has a long runway for continued expansion. Palantir is a high-risk, high-reward investment, but its competitive advantages suggest that the stock could still be a winner for long-term investors. Should you invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to175%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025
Washington Post
12 hours ago
- Climate
- Washington Post
The government cuts key data used in hurricane forecasting, and experts sound an alarm
Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defense satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would discontinue the 'ingest, processing and distribution' of data collected by three weather satellites that the agency jointly runs with the Defense Department. The data is used by scientists, researchers and forecasters, including at the National Hurricane Center.
