The Big Apple has grown too big for the land it rests on, according to a study released in May showing New York City is sinking under its own weight as the waters around it rise.
What’s happening?
The study, published in Earth’s Future, finds that the Big Apple, home to more than 8 million people, is sinking at a rate of about 0.04-0.08 inches per year.
“There’s a lot of weight there, a lot of people there,” Tom Parsons, the study’s lead author and a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told Time. “The average elevation in the southern part of the island is only 1 or 2 meters (3.2 or 6.5 feet) above sea level — it is very close to the waterline, and so it is a deep concern.”
The researchers calculated the mass of New York buildings and determined their downward pressure on the Earth. They also presented satellite-image evidence of gradual sinking caused by the city’s impressive structures…