From Newsweek, October 13:
New York City is sinking gradually, and some areas appear to be dropping faster than others, research shows.
A study published in the journal Science last month demonstrated how land across the city is sinking, or subsiding, at varying rates due to human and natural factors, while some locations are even rising, or uplifting.
The study authors from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and Rutgers University, New Jersey, found that that New York City is broadly sinking at an average rate of about 1.6 millimeters (0.06 inches) per year, although there are significant differences across the metropolitan area.
While the rate of elevation change is only a fraction of an inch per year, such processes can enhance or diminish the risk of flooding in any given area as sea levels rise around the world.
"From prior work of our own and others, we know that many coastal areas are sinking, which can make flooding from sea level rise and storms worse," JPL researcher and study author Brett Buzanga told Newsweek.
"We have a powerful satellite technique that can measure this sinking and has shown there can be differences in the speed of land motion from one neighborhood to the next. This information is important when considering how to build resilience at the coast to sea level rise as many locations around the world are doing."
In their study, researchers investigated land motion trends across New York City from 2016 to 2023 using radar data collected by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites. They then produced a detailed map of the "vertical land motion" with the data revealing hotspots of subsidence and uplift.
Some of the locations that are experiencing faster rates of sinking include LaGuardia Airport, Arthur Ashe Stadium, parts of Interstate 78, Governor's Island and Rikers Island, among others....
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