Scientists could soon lose a key tool for studying Antarctica's melting ice sheets as climate risks grow

Source: NBC News

Sept. 1, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT


This summer, the U.S. and much of the world have been pummeled by floods, fires and heat waves. Knowing what climate risks come next depends, to a large extent, on what happens in the most desolate place on Earth: Antarctica. But there’s a new obstacle to understanding the changing continent and how it’s affecting weather patterns throughout the world. The National Science Foundation plans to decommission its only research icebreaker, the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer, while also stalling on plans to build a replacement.

These actions come as the Trump administration continues to take aim at climate science by slashing science jobs, cutting grants and halting climate reports. And scientists say the moves further threaten to erode the country’s research dominance, this time in the Antarctic, one of the most critical regions for studying rapid change and climate risks, like sea-level rise.

Meanwhile, other countries including China and Russia are ramping up polar science and exploration, and scientists say they’re concerned the U.S. is weakening its presence in a region where military might is disallowed by treaty and scientific collaboration is the means of diplomacy.

“This is an abandonment of science and education, but it’s also an abandonment of our place on the world stage and a retreat from leadership,” said Julia Wellner, a professor of marine geology at the University of Houston, who visited the ship during an Antarctic science conference in Chile earlier this month.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/scientists-soon-lose-key-tool-studying-antarcticas-melting-ice-sheets-rcna227312