A study released Wednesday details how coastal cities across the United States are gradually sinking into the ocean, threatening millions of Americans and the nation's entire geography.
Changes in sea level are not new to Earth's extensive geological history, but if society completely ignores this normalized process and continues to add more weight to shallow coastal landmass, it will cause significant It's a problem. When land begins to sink into the ocean, the process is called “coastal subsidence,” and studies say it currently threatens a population of up to 273,000 Americans. published Published in Nature magazine.
This may sound like a lot of people are at risk from this natural process, but that's 1 in 50 people in 32 cities. And in my professional opinion (as a graduate of this scientific field), I feel that these numbers are grossly underestimated. The authors themselves point out that many of the values ​​provided in the study are “conservative”, which only makes the results even more frightening.
The study argues that coastal subsidence processes are “often underestimated in coastal management policies and long-term urban planning.” This process is especially difficult on the Gulf Coast and East Coast. New York City, Atlantic City, Virginia Beach, Charleston (South Carolina), Savannah (Ga.), Galveston, Freeport, Corpus Christi, and many other population centers are located in these areas.
— Kay Smythe (@KaySmythe) March 11, 2024
Many areas of California are also at risk from subsidence, including San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Orange County, and parts of San Diego. (Related: Oldest stilt village discovered behind 100,000 spikes)
Failing to account for the rate of coastal subsidence when planning for potential sea level rise is likely to make all corporate and government goals completely futile. It's like stockpiling water and planning for a wildfire without having to go through the trouble of removing flammable materials to stop the fire in the first place.
As cities sink under their own weight, and sea level changes and extreme weather conditions combine to make natural disasters more prevalent for humans, our inability to recognize the exact frequency of natural events in history may not make natural disasters more common. We need to prepare for the worst. the only option. (Related: Croatian archaeologists discover 7,000-year-old preserved road underwater)
It also doesn't help that stupid people obviously give stupid ideas to others about how to prevent the effects of living in a flood zone. For example, one community paid more than $500,000 to dump 14,000 tons of sand in front of their homes to prevent flooding, but all the sand washed away within three days.
