Sea level rise due to climate change isn´t the only threat to cities at the US East Coast, it seems. There is also something called "subsidence": cities are literally sinking into the ground.
The factors driving subsidence are varied. Some are natural. Others are man-made, including extraction of ground water or the sheer weight of huge buildings. In the United States, subsidence is very slow, but could eventually cause widespread flooding and damage.
In other nations, subsidence is already a huge problem, for instance in the mega-city of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where extensive groundwater extraction is making the whole city sink at a rather alarming rate. In some neighborhoods, about 2.5 meters in just ten years!
The two articles linked below don´t factor in catastrophic effects of climate change, assuming that at least sea level rise will be extremely slow. But what would happen if the sea levels would suddenly rise with more than just a few millimeters or centimeters?
That´s a frightening thing to contemplate. But I´m sure the cornucopians will come up with something, right?
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