Coastal Regions Face Increased Flooding Risk Due to Sinking Land and Rising Seas
Recent research highlights a growing threat to coastal communities worldwide, with implications that extend to real estate, infrastructure, and broader economic stability. The convergence of rising sea levels, a consequence of the planet warming and glaciers melting, with the sinking of coastal land, poses a dual challenge that could exacerbate the risk of flooding far more than previously estimated.
The phenomenon of land subsidence, or the gradual sinking of land, is being accelerated by climate change effects and has been documented to occur at rates as significant as five millimeters per year in certain areas. This rate of sinking, when combined with the sea level’s rise of roughly three millimeters annually, presents a compounded threat to coastal zones, particularly along the United States’ East Coast.
An extensive study conducted by researchers from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Geological Survey employed satellite radar imagery to construct high-resolution maps over several years, revealing the extent of land subsidence. The study’s findings indicate that locations on the East Coast are experiencing land sinking rates between two and five millimeters per year, affecting over two million inhabitants and threatening around 800,000 properties.
“The compounded effect of land subsidence and sea-level rise significantly escalates the threat of flooding, reducing the available timeframe for preparation and adaptation strategies by half,” explained a geophysics and remote sensing expert involved in the study. This dire situation is illustrated by major infrastructures, such as New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports, which are both subject to land sinking at rates exceeding two millimeters per year.
The combined forces of rising seas and sinking ground double the occurrence of flood events, challenging existing flood adaptation strategies and calling for immediate action. The implications of this dual threat are already being felt in cities like Baltimore, Maryland, where “nuisance flooding” is becoming a more frequent concern. These seemingly minor inconveniences, such as the flooding of critical promenades, can disrupt daily life by impeding access to businesses and workplaces.
City officials in coastal areas are particularly alarmed by the non-uniform nature of land subsidence, which can lead to uneven settling and foundational instability in buildings. “Even seemingly minor rates of subsidence can have significant long-term impacts on infrastructure stability,” cautioned a coastal planner from Baltimore.
This latest research underscores the urgent need for coastal communities to reassess and possibly enhance their flood defense and adaptation strategies. As the planet continues to warm and both sea levels and land subsidence rates potentially increase, the time to act and prepare is now, to mitigate future risks and safeguard communities against the escalating threat of coastal flooding.
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