The pressure from New York City’s massive buildings and skyscrapers is making the city more vulnerable to sink lower into the ocean, according to new research.
image: Matt Nelson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
USA Today News writes:
… Three University of Rhode Island oceanologists and a researcher from the U.S. Geological Survey found that New York City, home to more than 8 million people, is sinking at a rate of 1 to 2 millimeters a year while sea level rises…
…With more than 1 million buildings amassing nearly 1.7 trillion pounds, some areas in the metropolis were found to be subsiding much faster when scientists modelled… the pressure that these structures exert on the Earth.
Parts of lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island all showed signs of subsidence…
“As coastal cities grow globally, the combination of construction densification and sea level rise imply increasing inundation hazard”…
“….deformation is consistent with internal consolidation of artificial fill and other soft sediment that may be exacerbated by recent building loads, though there are many possible causes,’ a statement said…”
