Jakarta –
New York, one of the most populous cities in the US known for its bustling skyscrapers, is now sinking under its own weight, a study conducted by NASA warns.
Research conducted by scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Rutgers University has pinpointed various locations in the city that are sinking at varying rates compared to the rest of the city.
Scientists say the rate of sinking at these locations is faster than the average of 1.6 millimeters per year experienced by the rest of New York City.
Among the areas observed to be sinking more quickly include LaGuardia Airport, Arthur Ashe Stadium and Coney Island.
As quoted from WIO Newsthe researchers found that from 2016 to 2023, the runways of LaGuardia and Arthur Ashe Stadium sank by 3.7 and 4.6 millimeters per year, respectively.
While entire cities are sinking under the weight of skyscrapers, the newly identified point is shrinking because the region sits atop a receding ancient glacier. This happens due to two factors, namely nature and humans. That’s according to the study.
Ancient glaciers covered much of New England about 24 thousand years ago, and a wall of ice more than a mile high covered what is now Albany in upstate New York.
Some areas are starting to rise
Interestingly, the team also found areas that experienced an increase. The East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Woodside, and Queens areas were found to increase by about 1.6 mm and 6.9 mm per year, respectively.
Study co-author Robert Kopp of Rutgers University believes that groundwater pumping and injection wells used to treat polluted water may have played a role in the region’s uplift, but he added that further investigation would be needed to prove this.
This study was conducted by a team of NASA scientists and researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey to analyze a 302.6 square mile city consisting of five boroughs: Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
They measured the vertical upward and downward movement of land, or the uplift and subsidence of the land surface in New York City from 2016 to 2023.
This work involves the use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) remote sensing techniques that combine two or more 3D observations of the same region to reveal surface movement or topography.
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(rns/rns)
2023-10-01 22:48:21
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