It SHOULD be a National Historic Landmark

First I'm going to show the bad news.  Then I'm going with the bad climate news. And I'l; finish with the nauseating political climate news.

Climate Change Science Atop Mauna Loa Could Stall Amid Federal Cuts

The NOAA office in Hilo that supports that carbon dioxide sampling has been flagged for a possible lease cancellation.

"The Hilo-based office supporting that Mauna Loa Observatory is one of at least 34 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facilities flagged for possible closure, according to a list circulated by Congressional Democrats."

"Mauna Loa’s peak offers an ideal spot to collect air samples on the planet’s growing carbon dioxide levels, researchers say, due to its thin air and remote location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, away from major urban centers."

"Sample collections began there in 1958 under Charles Keeling, a scientist studying seasonal carbon dioxide patterns in the atmosphere. The rise in carbon dioxide levels detected at Mauna Loa in subsequent decades became known as the Keeling Curve. His research further linked that increase to the growing use of fossil fuels."

That last part is why it should be a National Historic Landmark, and perhaps an International Scientific Landmark as well.  The Keeling Curve is one of the most iconic, and one of the most recognizable, and also the most undeniable, data plots in the history of Earth science. And the flaming idiots supposedly running this country want to end it (and be nefarious about it too). 

So, there hasn't been an update on the potential lease cancellation, as far as I can tell. But there was this:

Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory just captured ominous signals about the planet’s health

"Atmospheric levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide aren’t just on their way to yet another record high this year — they’re rising faster than ever, according to the latest in a 66-year-long series of observations.

"Carbon dioxide levels were 4.7 parts per million higher in March than they were a year earlier, the largest annual leap ever measured at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration laboratory atop a volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. And from January through April, CO2 concentrations increased faster than they have in the first four months of any other year."

"For decades, CO2 concentrations at Mauna Loa in the month of May have broken previous records. But the recent acceleration in atmospheric CO2, surpassing a record-setting increase observed in 2016, is perhaps a more ominous signal of failing efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and the damage they cause to Earth’s climate."

I'm going to finish with a couple of paragraphs from this stupefyingly maladorous New York Times article.

"President Trump has frequently dismissed the risks of global warming. And Russell Vought, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote before the election that the next president should “reshape” the Global Change Research Program, because its scientific reports on climate change were often used as the basis for environmental lawsuits that constrained federal government actions."

"Mr. Vought has called the government’s largest climate research unit, a division inside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a source of “climate alarmism.” "

"Hate" is a strong word. But I truly detest this man.