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New York City SINKS under weight of skyscrapers: Scientists say real estate poses bigger threat to the Big Apple than climate change
New York is sinking fast, and new research says real estate developers’ ethos of “bigger is better” is to blame.
According to scientists from the US Geological Survey and the University of Rhode Island, the city is sinking under the weight of the towering skyscrapers at a rate of 1 to 2 millimeters per year.
While a few millimeters may not sound catastrophic, some parts of the city are sinking much faster, in the rhythm of the fastest speeds known to move tectonic plates.
“The aim of the paper is to raise awareness that any additional tall building built on the coast, river or lake can contribute to future flood risk” write United States Geological Survey geologist Tom Parsons and his colleagues at the University of Rhode Island.
Parsons and his colleagues say they likely underestimated the seriousness of the situation, as their research failed to take into account the burden of other heavy elements such as asphalt roads, concrete sidewalks, railroads or the rest of New York’s infrastructure.
For their new study, the scientists first calculated the total mass of New York’s more than 1 million buildings: 764,000,000,000 kilograms, or 1.68 trillion pounds.
Points highlighted in blue indicate where researchers found the most severe sinking, as observed via satellite. Each point represents a fall of more than −2.75 mm/year. In the second image, the same blue spots are compared to modeled estimates of the pressure caused by heavy construction loads
Last year, the group listed the Big Apple alongside 98 other coastal cities around the world that are also succumbing to the weight of their majestic skylines
In most of the cities they surveyed, the land below is receding faster than sea levels are rising due to climate change — a dangerous combination that threatens residents with greater flood risks much faster than normal climate models predict.
But for their new study, the scientists first calculated the total mass of New York’s more than 1 million buildings: 764,000,000,000 kilograms, or 1.68 trillion pounds.
By examining all that weight, distributed over a grid of 100-by-100-meter squares, the team was able to convert the building mass into a clear measure of the downward force pressing on the city’s bedrock.
They then compared this work with satellite data that could measure land surface elevation, and mapped their estimates across the city.
Another factor, they say, that could exacerbate the problem even more quickly is groundwater tapping and pumping, which could essentially help the pressure of the buildings compact the dirt and rocks below.