New York City may be sinking under its own weight because the buildings are too heavy, scientists warn

Published

2 years ago

May 22, 2023

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The combined weight of New York City’s buildings may be causing the metropolis to sink, researchers have said. However, there may be other reasons why the city is sinking — including the way the earth continues to shift after the end of the last ice age more than 10,000 years ago, scientists added.

Understanding how and why areas such as New York City may be sinking helps researchers estimate the flood risks these areas may face in the future because of climate change. Sea levels along the Atlantic Coast of North America are expected to rise three to four times faster than the global average, researchers noted.

“Sea level rise is eventually going to pose inundation challenges in New York and globally,” study lead author Tom Parsons, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told Live Science.

GPS data suggest lower Manhattan is sinking, or subsiding, at the rate of about 0.08 inch (2.1 millimeters) per year.

The reason for this could be natural. During the coldest parts of the last ice age, giant ice sheets covered much of the planet. This caused the ground directly underneath the ice sheets to sink, which in turn made the edges of landmasses tilt up. After these ice sheets melted, areas that had been shoved up are now sinking down, which previous research suggests may result in as much as 19 to 59 inches (48 to 150 centimeters) of subsidence along the East Coast by 2100.

Related: Visit NYC in 750 B.C. with this epic interactive map

In addition to this natural cause of subsidence, Parsons and his colleagues wanted to explore the potential effects of artificial causes, such as buildings. He came up with the idea while visiting his wife’s family in Belgium in 2019.

“We happened to be staying next to the cathedral in Antwerp,” Parsons said. “I kept looking at the huge foundation stones and thinking about how they all had to have been brought from many miles away, and then piled up in one concentrated spot, like building a small mountain. I got curious about what that might be doing to the earth below it.”

All buildings will sink into the ground or “settle” a little after they are built, “even those built on hard rock,” Parsons said. “Those on softer soils will settle more.”

The scientists estimated that the mass of the 1,084,954 buildings within New York City’s five boroughs equaled 1.68 trillion pounds (762 billion kilograms) distributed over a 300-square-mile (778 square kilometers) area.

They next developed computer models to see how all that weight might cause sinking on a wide variety of soil conditions.

Satellite data revealed an average subsidence rate of about 0.04 to 0.08 inch (1 to 2 mm) per year across the city. This was consistent with the sinking the computer models suggested might be expected due to natural shifting of the earth after the last ice age.RELATED STORIES—New York’s first dinosaur museum was trashed before it even opened. The culprit is not who we thought.

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Still, the scientists also found some parts of the city displayed much faster subsidence rates. They noted this may be due to the weight of buildings, although they cautioned there might be other possible causes.

Parsons noted that New York City is on average only sinking a tiny amount per year. “However, sea level rise at New York is about 1 to 2 millimeters per year, so every millimeter of subsidence is equivalent to moving a year ahead in time with regard to rising ocean levels,” he said.

The scientists published their findings May 8 in the journal Earth’s Future.

US

Is this the most powerful Trump’s been?

Published

9 mins ago

July 5, 2025

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👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed and he’s due to sign it into law on Independence Day. Mark Stone and David Blevins discuss how the bill will supercharge his presidency, despite its critics.

They also chat Gaza and Ukraine, as Donald Trump meets with freed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and talks to Vladimir Putin.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

UK

Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Published

9 mins ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Liverpool players past and present have joined the family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva for their funeral in Portugal.

A service was held in the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in their hometown of Gondomar near Porto in northern Portugal on Saturday morning.

Mourners lined the streets and some in the crowd clapped as the brothers’ coffins were carried into the church.

The funeral – in pictures

Jota, 28, leaves behind his wife of only 11 days, Rute Cardoso, and three young children.

His younger brother, 25, was an attacking midfielder for Penafiel in the second tier of Portuguese football.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, captain Virgil Van Dijk and teammates including Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez were seen at the service.

Former teammates Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho were also there.

Van Dijk carried a red wreath with Jota’s number 20, while Robertson had a wreath featuring number 30, Silva’s number at Penafiel.

Some of Jota’s teammates in the Portuguese national side also attended, including Bruno Fernandes, of Manchester United, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, of Manchester City, Joao Felix and Renato Veiga, of Chelsea, Nelson Semedo, from Wolves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio.

Ruben Neves was one of the pallbearers after flying in from Florida where he played for Al Hilal in the Club World Cup quarter-final on Friday night.

‘More than a friend’

In a post published on Instagram before the service, he told Jota he had been “more than a friend, we’re family, and we won’t stop being that way just because you’ve decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!”

Jota’s fellow Liverpool midfielder, Alexis Mac Allister, said on Instagram: “I can’t believe it. I’ll always remember your smiles, your anger, your intelligence, your camaraderie, and everything that made you a person. It hurts so much; we’ll miss you. Rest in peace, dear Diogo.”

Porto FC president Andre Villas-Boas and Portugal national team manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance.

‘With us forever’

Speaking after the ceremony, Martinez said the period since their deaths had been “really, really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we showed we are a large, close family.

“Their spirit will be with us forever.”

The service was private, but the words spoken by the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, were broadcast to those standing outside the church.

He told Jota’s children, who were not at the service, that he was praying for them specifically, as well as their mother and grandparents.

“There are no words, but there are feelings,” he said, adding: “We also suffer a lot and we are with you emotionally.”

The brothers died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.

No other vehicles are said to have been involved in the incident.

Liverpool have delayed the return of their players for pre-season following Jota’s death and players past and present paid tribute to him and his brother on social media.

Flowers have been left outside Anfield, where flags have been lowered to half-mast and all club shops, museums and tours have been closed until Monday.

Technology

Inside a Utah desert facility preparing humans for life on Mars

Published

2 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Inside a Utah desert facility preparing humans for life on Mars

Hidden among the majestic canyons of the Utah desert, about 7 miles from the nearest town, is a small research facility meant to prepare humans for life on Mars.

The Mars Society, a nonprofit organization that runs the Mars Desert Research Station, or MDRS, invited CNBC to shadow one of its analog crews on a recent mission.

“MDRS is the best analog astronaut environment,” said Urban Koi, who served as health and safety officer for Crew 315. “The terrain is extremely similar to the Mars terrain and the protocols, research, science and engineering that occurs here is very similar to what we would do if we were to travel to Mars.”

SpaceX CEO and Mars advocate Elon Musk has said his company can get humans to Mars as early as 2029.

The 5-person Crew 315 spent two weeks living at the research station following the same procedures that they would on Mars.

David Laude, who served as the crew’s commander, described a typical day.

“So we all gather around by 7 a.m. around a common table in the upper deck and we have breakfast,” he said. “Around 8:00 we have our first meeting of the day where we plan out the day. And then in the morning, we usually have an EVA of two or three people and usually another one in the afternoon.”

An EVA refers to extravehicular activity. In NASA speak, EVAs refer to spacewalks, when astronauts leave the pressurized space station and must wear spacesuits to survive in space.

“I think the most challenging thing about these analog missions is just getting into a rhythm. … Although here the risk is lower, on Mars performing those daily tasks are what keeps us alive,” said Michael Andrews, the engineer for Crew 315.

Watch the video to find out more.