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Countries are cutting back on research into climate change just when
scientists need it most, warned researchers meeting in Geneva last week under
the auspices of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). “We have very
serious concerns that countries are collecting less basic data” such as
temperature, pressure and other measurements made by weather balloons in the
upper atmosphere, says Roger Newson, head of climate modelling for the WCRP. He
claims that weather services in most developed countries are not improving, and
that European governments are trying to sell weather data despite an agreement
by the World Meteorological Organization to give it to researchers.