Nine seismic stations in Alaska will go offline this month, leaving tsunami forecasters without critical data that will help determine whether the earthquake will send a destructive wave heading toward the West Coast.
The stations relied on a federal grant that expired last year; This fall, the Trump administration refused to renew it. Data from the stations is helping researchers determine the strength and shape of earthquakes in the Alaska Subduction Zone, a fault that can produce some of the world's most powerful earthquakes and put California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii at risk.
Losing the stations could result in coastal Alaska communities receiving delayed notice of an impending tsunami, said Michael West, director of the Alaska Earthquake Center. And communities farther away, such as Washington state, may receive a less accurate forecast.
“Statistically, the last inland tsunami came from Alaska, and the next one is likely to come,” he said.
It is the latest blow to the US tsunami warning system, which was already suffering from disinvestment and staffing shortages. The researchers said they were concerned that the network was beginning to break down.
“Everything in the tsunami warning system is going backwards,” West said. “It's a complex problem.”
The U.S. has two tsunami warning centers—one in Palmer, Alaska, and the other in Honolulu—that operate around the clock and make forecasts that help emergency managers determine whether evacuations from coastal areas are necessary after an earthquake. Data from Alaska seismic stations have historically been reported to the centers.
Both centers are already experiencing staff shortages. Of the 20 full-time positions at the Alaska center, only 11 are currently filled, according to Tom Fahey, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees union. Four of the 16 positions are open in Hawaii. (Both institutions are in the process of hiring scientists, Fahey said.)
In addition, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has cut funding for the National Tsunami Risk Reduction Program, which funds most states' tsunami risk reduction efforts. Agency provided $4 million in 2025 – far less than 6 million dollars this has historically been proposed.
“He’s on life support,” West said of the program.
On top of that, NOAA fired National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen as part of a Trump administration program. dismissal of probationary workers in FebruaryAccording to Harold Tobin, Washington state seismologist. Allen, who recently joined the agency, declined to comment through a spokeswoman for her new employer, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
These recent cuts come amid broader efforts by the Trump administration to cut federal spending on science and climate research, among other areas. NOAA has released hundreds workers in Februaryabbreviated launch of weather balloons And Research into the consequences of climate and weather disasters has been stoppedamong other abbreviations.
Most of the seismic stations closing in Alaska are in remote areas of the Aleutian Islands, West said. The chain extends west from the Alaska Peninsula towards Russia, tracing an underwater subduction zone. KHNS, a public radio station in Alaska. was the first to report the news that the stations will be disconnected from the network.
A NOAA grant of about $300,000 a year supported the stations. The Alaska Earthquake Center requested new grant funding through 2028 but was denied, according to an email between West and NOAA staff reviewed by NBC News.
Kim Doster, a NOAA spokeswoman, said the federal agency stopped providing the money in 2024 under the Biden administration. The University of Alaska Fairbanks committed funds in the spring to continue the program for another year, believing the federal government would eventually cover the costs, said Uma Bhatt, a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor and associate director of the research institute that administered the grant. But the new funds never materialized.
“The loss of these observations does not prevent the Tsunami Warning Center from carrying out its mission,” Doster said. “AEC [Alaska Earthquake Center] is one of many partners supporting the National Weather Service's tsunami operations, and NWS continues to use many mechanisms to support seismic data collection throughout the state of Alaska.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
West said the Alaska Earthquake Center provides much of the data used for tsunami warnings in the state. The grant, which supported the operation of nine seismic stations, also funded the transmission of data from the center's other sensors, West said. National Tsunami Warning Centers will no longer have direct access to this channel.
West said the Aleutian Islands stations cover a huge geographic range.
“There's nothing else around,” he said. “It's not like there's another tool 20 miles down the road. There's no road there.”
The plan is to leave the stations later this month and leave their equipment in place, West added.
Washington state's Tobin said he was concerned that the closure “could delay or degrade the quality of tsunami warnings.”
“This region is rarely monitored. We kind of need a stethoscope to monitor this region,” he said, adding: “These programs sit in the background until a big, terrible event happens.”
The Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone is one of the most active faults in the world and has generated significant tsunamis in the past. In 1964, a tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake. killed 124 peopleThat includes 13 in California and five in Oregon, according to NOAA. Most of the deaths in California occurred in Crescent City, where a 21-foot wave destroyed 29 city blocks. according to the city website.
Tsunami experts said stations in the Aleutian Islands are critical to quickly identifying nearby earthquakes. The closer the earthquake is to the sensor, the less uncertainty there is about the subsequent tsunami.
NOAA tsunami warning centers aim to issue an initial forecast within five minutes, which is critical for local communities, West said. (A large earthquake in the Aleutian Islands could trigger the first wave in nearby Alaska communities within minutes.) The only data available quickly enough to support these initial predictions comes from seismic signals (not tidal gauges or pressure sensors attached to buoys).
Then about 40 minutes later, warning centers issued a more specific wave height forecast. Daniel Youngard, manager of the Washington Geological Survey's tsunami program, said the lack of sensors in Alaska will create greater uncertainty about expected wave heights, making it difficult to make decisions about whether to evacuate along the Washington coastline.
“We try not to over-evacuate,” he said, adding that if warnings are unnecessary, it will cost time, money and trust.
National tsunami warning centers have been busy over the past year. A Magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Cape MendocinoIn California, tsunami warnings were issued along the state's coast in December. In July, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred off Russian Kamchatka. The peninsula has caused widespread concern along the US West Coast.. The peninsula is located west of the Aleutian Islands.
NOAA helped build many of the seismic stations that were part of the Alaska Earthquake Center network. But West said the agency has reduced its support over the past two decades; nine NOAA-built stations were decommissioned in 2013.
“It's now or never whether NOAA will participate in this,” he said. “What I really want to do is spark a discussion about tsunami control in the United States and prevent it from being triggered by the next devastating tsunami.”
