International criticism of the CSIRO's planned deep cuts to its climate monitoring programs has intensified with the World Meteorological Organisation blasting the move as a "backward" step that would see Australia isolated.

Staff were told last week the CSIRO planned to cut about 100 full-time researchers from the Ocean and Atmosphere division alone. The key units - Earth System Assessment and Ocean and Climate Dynamics - have 151 staff including doctoral researchers but about 135 full-time positions, insiders say.

Most of CSIRO's climate programs face the axe. Credit:CSIRO

Larry Marshall, the CSIRO's chief executive, on Monday sought to allay concerns about the cuts, saying the overall division - which also includes coastal management, engineering and technology and marine resources and industries - would lose 65 of its 420 staff.

The World Climate Research Programme, a unit of the WMO, said the "substantial reductions" in climate researchers had "sent shockwaves into the international climate research community".