East Coast of the USA is sinking into the sea: “slowly but surely”

The risk of flooding on the east coast of the USA is expected to increase significantly in the next few years. The reasons are sinking areas of land and rising sea levels.

Bremen – The effects of climate change are already noticeable: extreme weather conditions are no longer uncommon, and forest fires occur regularly due to drought and drought Floods destroy entire areas of land. The latter can get worse, especially on the US east coast. As a study by the University of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg shows, large areas of land there are sinking. In combination with rising sea levels, the east coast of the USA is threatened to sink into the sea.

East Coast of the USA sinks into the sea: Large airports also affected

Densely populated cities such as New York, Baltimore and Norfolk are also affected. “The problem is not just that the land is sinking,” explains Leonard Ohenhen, lead author of the published study. The problem is that the hotspots of the sinking land directly overlap with centers of population and infrastructure. The ground movement not only increases the risk of flooding, but it also threatens it partly dilapidated infrastructureincluding buildings, roads, railway tracks and airport runways.

Geoscientist Ohenhen and his colleagues report in the journal PNAS Nexusthat New York's major airports, JFK and LaGuardia, are sinking an average of two millimeters annually. But the results of the study show that some areas of land are sinking by more than five millimeters per year, and in some places even by more than ten millimeters. Between 2007 and 2020, ground movements were measured for the entire east coast. This was achieved using radar measurements by satellites along a 100 kilometer long strip.

Flood risk tripled on the east coast

In New York, Baltimore and Norfolk the subsidence rate is predominantly one to two millimeters per year. The main reasons are the compaction of the subsoil, the extraction of groundwater and mining. However, the subsidence in combination with rising sea levels – currently around four millimeters per year – could triple the flood risk for some areas within a few decades, as the research team reports. Since the beginning of industrialization, Sea levels have already risen by 20 centimeters. (cln/dpa)