New York City is sinking: 28 cities with 34 million people under big threat
Satellite-based radar measurements were used to create high-resolution maps of subsidence, or sinking land, for 28 of the most populous US cities. "Even slight downward shifts in land can significantly compromise the structural integrity of buildings, roads, bridges, and railways over time," Leonard Ohenhen, a former Virginia Tech graduate student and the study's lead author said.
Twenty-eight major U.S. cities, including New York, Dallas, and Seattle, are seeing urban areas sink. (Photo: Getty)
In every city studied, at least 20 per cent of the urban area is sinking — and in 25 of 28 cities, at least 65 per cent is sinking.advertisementThe study, published in the journal Nature Cities, analysed changes happening in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, and five other cities that are sinking at about 2 millimetres per year."The latent nature of this risk means that infrastructure can be silently compromised over time with damage only becoming evident when it is severe or potentially catastrophic. This risk is often exacerbated in rapidly expanding urban centers," Associate Professor Manoochehr Shirzaei at Virginia Tech's Earth Observation and Innovation Lab said.The study revealed that the sinking was primarily due to the compounding effect of shifts in weather patterns with urban population and socioeconomic growth."It is potentially accelerating subsidence rates and transforming previously stable urban areas into vulnerable zones for flooding, infrastructure failure, and long-term land degradation," Shirzai added.Several cities in Texas exhibited some of the highest measured rates of subsidence at about 5 millimetres per year — and as much as 10 millimetres per year in certain areas of Houston.Must Watch
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