How Trump's dismantling of NOAA threatens the Keeling Curve—and why that matters

Scientists are scrambling to preserve ability to know how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere.

They say the Trump administration has made clear it wishes to gut NOAA ’s research enterprise.

If successful, this loss will be a nightmare scenario for climate science, not just in the U.S. , they say.

The community of researchers making sustained measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide probably numbers less than 30 .

Graduate students interested in learning to conduct this arcane work are a rare commodity.

Researchers have to be extremely diligent and exacting to ensure that measurements in 1958 are comparable to those today .

They pray that common sense will prevail and that NOAA will be spared the worse.