New York is sinking due to the weight of its skyscrapers, research reveals

New York may be the city that never sleeps, but it is certainly a city that sinks, shrinking approximately 1 to 2 mm each year on average. Some areas of the metropolis are sinking at twice that rate, according to researchers.

This phenomenon is also caused by the impact of rising sea levels, a reality that is accelerating as the world's glaciers melt and seawater expands due to global warming. 

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The water level surrounding New York City has risen by about 22 cm since 1950 and major flooding, caused by storms, can be up to four times more frequent until the end of the century. This projection takes into account the combination of sea level rise and hurricanes, strengthened by climate changes.

“A deeply concentrated population of 8,4 million people faces varying degrees of flood risk in New York City,” the researchers wrote in the new study, published in the newspaper Earth's Future ().

⚠️ The authors of the publication added that the risks faced by New York City will be shared by many other coastal cities around the world as the climate crisis goes deeper. 

This trend is being amplified by New York City's large amount of built infrastructure. Researchers calculated that the city's structures, which include the famous Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, weigh a total of 1,68 trillion pounds, which is approximately equivalent to the weight of 140 million elephants. 😱

“It’s not something to panic about immediately, but there is an ongoing process that increases the risk of flooding,” he said. Tom Parsons ao The Guardian (*), geophysicist at the US Geological Survey, who led the new research.

Parsons said New York and other coastal cities “need to plan for this. If you are repeatedly exposed to seawater, it can corrode steel and destabilize buildings, which you clearly don't want. Floods also kill people, which is probably the biggest concern.”

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New York may be the city that never sleeps, but it is certainly a city that sinks, shrinking approximately 1 to 2 mm every year. 😱

♬ original sound – Curto News

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