Revealing New York city's shifting landscape: NASA study unearths sinking skyscrapers and surprising uplift

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

New York City, the bustling metropolis, finds itself in the midst of a transformative shift in its urban landscape, as unveiled by a recent in-depth study conducted by scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Rutgers University. Employing state-of-the-art remote sensing technology, known as interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), this research meticulously scrutinized the vertical land motion in the metropolitan area spanning the years from 2016 to 2023.

The study intricately dissects the complex interplay of both human and natural factors, contributing to phenomena of subsidence and uplift within the city.

The crux of this dynamic transformation lies in prior alterations to the Earth's surface, including land reclamation and landfill construction, rendering the ground beneath specific structures increasingly susceptible to compression.

Moreover, the study illuminates the far-reaching influence of natural processes, echoing back thousands of years to the last ice age. As the Earth's mantle gradually readjusts itself under the weight of the ice sheet that once blanketed regions like New England, New York City, perched on land previously just beyond the ice sheet's boundary, now experiences subsidence.

On average, the metropolitan area has been experiencing a gradual subsidence, measured at approximately 1.6 millimeters annually.

Nonetheless, the study discerns certain neighborhoods and landmarks that are subsiding at rates surpassing this average. For example, LaGuardia Airport's runway 13/31 exhibits a subsidence rate of approximately 0.15 inches (3.7 millimeters) per year, while Arthur Ashe Stadium is sinking at an approximate rate of 0.18 inches (4.6 millimeters) annually.

Notably, the study