Richard Eckman
@richeckmanatm.bsky.social
Atmospheric Scientist | Retired NASA Atmospheric Composition Modeling & Analysis Program (ACMAP) Manager | Yorktown, VA | 🇺🇦 | (He/Him)
I thought I remembered a US stamp from then! I used to collect decades ago.
July 12, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I thought I remembered a US stamp from then! I used to collect decades ago.
Weird to think that there was a huge fascination with scientific advances during the IGY (the year of my birth). How far we have fallen.
July 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Weird to think that there was a huge fascination with scientific advances during the IGY (the year of my birth). How far we have fallen.
It’s the end of the world.
July 10, 2025 at 2:01 AM
It’s the end of the world.
Is this the NY mayoral primary? It looks like a mess.
June 23, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Is this the NY mayoral primary? It looks like a mess.
I was very reassured to read that the acting director of FEMA is unaware of the term "hurricane season".
June 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I was very reassured to read that the acting director of FEMA is unaware of the term "hurricane season".
Good question. Given that they seem quite pleased to be terminating "BER activities in environmental system sciences, atmospheric system research, earth system modeling, data management, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility", I'm guessing that it may be all of ARM.
June 3, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Good question. Given that they seem quite pleased to be terminating "BER activities in environmental system sciences, atmospheric system research, earth system modeling, data management, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility", I'm guessing that it may be all of ARM.
Interestingly, SAGE III/ISS and DSCOVR (both slated for cancellation) were launched on Space-X Falcon 9 rockets!
June 3, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Interestingly, SAGE III/ISS and DSCOVR (both slated for cancellation) were launched on Space-X Falcon 9 rockets!
I find the decisions related to Earth science funding in the budget as vengeful, an attempt to erase our knowledge of climate change. I can't recall that functional NASA satellites returning useful data have ever been shut down. This budget has huge impacts across the entire science enterprise.
June 2, 2025 at 1:38 AM
I find the decisions related to Earth science funding in the budget as vengeful, an attempt to erase our knowledge of climate change. I can't recall that functional NASA satellites returning useful data have ever been shut down. This budget has huge impacts across the entire science enterprise.
Yes, the President's NASA budget request document proposes to shut them off. The satellites in the inner ring of the diagram are those already on orbit. I certainly agree that turning off functioning satellites is a waste of sunk costs. Those at the bottom are future missions in development.
June 2, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Yes, the President's NASA budget request document proposes to shut them off. The satellites in the inner ring of the diagram are those already on orbit. I certainly agree that turning off functioning satellites is a waste of sunk costs. Those at the bottom are future missions in development.
Thanks for this information. I'd been wondering if we'd seen a replay of the event from 2023.
May 31, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Thanks for this information. I'd been wondering if we'd seen a replay of the event from 2023.
Very good point. Eight years later, this Congress seems different, more extreme, and less willing to fight their leader and his supporters. I hope you're right, but I worry that they won't put up the fight that we saw last time.
May 31, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Very good point. Eight years later, this Congress seems different, more extreme, and less willing to fight their leader and his supporters. I hope you're right, but I worry that they won't put up the fight that we saw last time.
Impressive interview with very good questions posed to you.
April 13, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Impressive interview with very good questions posed to you.
Actually, Heard Island is well known to amateur radio enthusiasts, like me. There have been several activations of the island over the years, often in conjunction with science expeditions. I've never made a contact with the island unfortunately!
April 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Actually, Heard Island is well known to amateur radio enthusiasts, like me. There have been several activations of the island over the years, often in conjunction with science expeditions. I've never made a contact with the island unfortunately!
"It can't get no worse". After a day of horrific news, I thought of the Beatles song lyric. I figured that maybe we were done for the weekend. Sadly, that lyric doesn't apply here. It just indeed keeps getting worse.
April 12, 2025 at 12:26 AM
"It can't get no worse". After a day of horrific news, I thought of the Beatles song lyric. I figured that maybe we were done for the weekend. Sadly, that lyric doesn't apply here. It just indeed keeps getting worse.
Given recent actions at USGCRP and planned defunding of NASA, NOAA, and other science agencies, I don't see the federal government doing this. I hope that AGU may consider a coordinating role here, perhaps with support from philanthropics that aren't wholly cowed by the present administration.
April 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Given recent actions at USGCRP and planned defunding of NASA, NOAA, and other science agencies, I don't see the federal government doing this. I hope that AGU may consider a coordinating role here, perhaps with support from philanthropics that aren't wholly cowed by the present administration.
Increasingly I fear that we are through as a country.
April 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Increasingly I fear that we are through as a country.
This is even worse than I expected. The US will be relegated to the bottom tier in science research moving forward.
April 11, 2025 at 2:27 PM
This is even worse than I expected. The US will be relegated to the bottom tier in science research moving forward.
Metric system would likely make MAGA go crazy. It’s far too logical.
April 11, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Metric system would likely make MAGA go crazy. It’s far too logical.
Yet another senseless tragedy. I expect to see this happen at NASA in the near future.
April 11, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Yet another senseless tragedy. I expect to see this happen at NASA in the near future.
I fear you're right. Trump has stated that he wants to send US citizens who commit crimes to El Salvador. It doesn't seem legal to me, but I doubt that will stop him.
April 11, 2025 at 2:15 AM
I fear you're right. Trump has stated that he wants to send US citizens who commit crimes to El Salvador. It doesn't seem legal to me, but I doubt that will stop him.
I just saw this earlier this evening. It's a tragedy. Having been involved with USGCRP since around 2008, including 2 stints on the federal writing teams for its strategic plans, I'm deeply depressed by the news. We're going to be left with no federally supported climate science in this country.
April 11, 2025 at 1:44 AM
I just saw this earlier this evening. It's a tragedy. Having been involved with USGCRP since around 2008, including 2 stints on the federal writing teams for its strategic plans, I'm deeply depressed by the news. We're going to be left with no federally supported climate science in this country.
Coupled with the effective closure of the US Global Change Research Program, early termination of numerous grants at GFDL, elsewhere at Princeton, and other universities, we're going to be left with no federally supported scientific research programs. This is obscene.
April 11, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Coupled with the effective closure of the US Global Change Research Program, early termination of numerous grants at GFDL, elsewhere at Princeton, and other universities, we're going to be left with no federally supported scientific research programs. This is obscene.