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Scientists have made a surprising discovery that could affect more than 15 million Americans: Almost the entire East Coast of the United States is sinking.
Virginia Tech researchers identified “hotspots” from Florida to New Hampshire that are dropping up to five millimeters a year due to groundwater extraction and the weight of infrastructure.
The team collected data from space-based radar sites to build digital maps of the East Coast terrain to show where sinking landscapes pose health risks to vital infrastructure.
Particularly affected population centers, such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, Maryland, Virginia Beach, and New Haven, Connecticut, are experiencing areas of rapid “sinking.”
Virginia Tech researchers identified 800,000 properties from Florida to New Hampshire that are dropping up to five millimeters a year.
Lead author Leonard Ohenhen, a graduate student at Virginia Tech, said: “Continued absolute subsidence on the East Coast should be a cause for concern.
“This is particularly in areas with high population and property density and a historical complacency towards infrastructure maintenance.”
The team found that several areas along the mid-Atlantic coast of more than 1,400 square miles are sinking more than five millimeters per year, more than the current global rate of sea level rise of four millimeters per year.
There are 25 millimeters in an inch.
“The percentage of land area within each county affected by subsidence on the US East Coast has important implications for the frequency and severity of flooding in different communities,” reads the study published in PNAS.
“Land subsidence can potentially increase the area inundated during coastal storms by modifying base flood elevations and topographic gradients.”
Ohenhen and his professor Manoochehr Shirzaei used satellite data from 2007 to 2020 published by the United States Geological Survey.
Land subsidence also affected major infrastructure such as roads, trains and railways along the east coast.
Pictured is a satellite image of Virginia highways.
‘We highlight 12 metropolitan cities affected by spatially variable land subsidence: Boston (Massachusetts [MA]), Providence (Rhode Island [RI]), New Haven (Connecticut [CT]), New York, New York [NY]), Atlantic City (New Jersey [NJ]), Baltimore, Maryland [MD]), Norfolk (Virginia [VA]), Wilmington (North Carolina [NC]), Charleston (South Carolina [SC]), Jacksonville (FL) and Miami (FL)’, the study reads.
The team found that most of the East Coast is sinking by two millimeters each year, affecting around 2.1 million people.
According to the study, that number does not include the other 16 million who live in regions that are declining more significantly.
Several areas in Atlantic City, Savannah and Charleston were noted to be sinking at a rate greater than four millimeters per year.
Parts of New Jersey and Delaware have subsidence rates of at least three millimeters per year.
The team also broke down the data by county, revealing that 138 to 163 counties have average declines of one millimeter per year and 56 to 152 counties have average declines of two millimeters per year.
This also includes popular airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) sinks 1.7 mm per year
However, the team identified counties with higher severity of danger: Hampton (VA), Norfolk (VA), Virginia Beach (VA), Chesapeake (VA), Baltimore City (MD), Union (NJ), Middlesex (NJ), Monmouth. (New Jersey), Ocean (New Jersey), New Haven (CT), and several New York City counties (Queens, Bronx, Nassau, and Westchester).
Land subsidence also affected major infrastructure such as roads, trains and railways along the east coast.
That also includes popular airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) sinks 1.7 mm per year, LaGuardia Airport 1.5 mm per year, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) 1.4 mm per year, and Boston Logan International Airport has an average subsidence rate of 1.1 mm per year.
‘The problem here is not just that the land is sinking. The problem is that sinking land hotspots intersect directly with population centers and infrastructure,” Ohenhen said.
‘For example, major areas of critical infrastructure in New York, including JFK and LaGuardia airports and their runways, along with rail systems, are affected by subsidence rates exceeding two mm per year.
“The effects of this now and in the future are potential damage to infrastructure and increased risks of flooding.”