VOA新闻杂志2023--Study: New York City Is Sinking

Study: New York City Is Sinking

New York City is slowly sinking.

With the weight of its tall buildings, streets and people, the city is sinking at an average rate of 1 to 2 millimeters each year, a new study says.

The sinking is called "subsidence."

That natural process happens everywhere as ground is compressed. But the study published in the publication Earth's Future in May sought to estimate how the huge weight of the city itself is hurrying things along.

More than 1 million buildings are spread across the city's five boroughs². The research team found that all those structures add up to about 1.5 trillion metric tons of concrete, metal and glass. That is equal to the mass of 4,700 Empire State buildings pressing down on the Earth.

The rate of compression is different throughout the city. Midtown Manhattan's tall buildings, or skyscrapers³, are largely built on rock, which compresses very little. But some parts of Brooklyn, Queens and downtown Manhattan are on looser soil and sinking faster, the study said.

While the process is slow, parts of the city will eventually be under water, said Tom Parsons. He is the lead researcher of the U.S. Geological Survey. Making the problem worse is rising sea level.

"The ground is going down, and the water's coming up. At some point, those two levels will meet," said Parsons.

Parsons and his team of researchers reached their conclusions using satellite imaging, data modeling and mathematical calculations.

It will take hundreds of years before New York becomes Venice. The city in Italy is famously sinking into the Adriatic Sea. But parts of New York are more at risk.

Parsons said that Manhattan is at risk because of the borough¹'s large weight. "The average elevation⁴ in the southern part of the island is only 1 or 2 meters above sea level — it is very close to the waterline, and so it is a deep concern."

The ocean is rising at a similar rate that the land is sinking. So the Earth's changing climate could speed up the process for parts of the city to go under water.

"It doesn't mean that we should stop building buildings...," Parsons said. "The purpose was to point this out in advance before it becomes a bigger problem."

Already, New York City is at risk of flooding because of large storms. Storms like Sandy in 2012 caused the ocean to expand inland and flooded neighborhoods after a lot of rain.

Andrew Kruczkiewicz is a senior researcher at Columbia University's Climate School, who was not involved in the research.

Kruczkiewicz said the study's findings could help inform policy makers⁵ as they plan ways to slow the rising seas. "We can't sit around and wait..," he added.

New York City is not the only place sinking. San Francisco, California, is also at risk because of pressure on the ground and the area's active earthquakes.

In Indonesia, the government is preparing for a move from Jakarta, which is sinking into the Java Sea. The government is building a new capital being constructed on the higher ground of an entirely⁶ different island.

Words in This Story

subsidence — n. movement of the ground to a lower level

compress — v. to press or squeeze so that it is smaller or fills less space

borough — n. a village, town, or part of a large city that has its own government

calculation — n. a process or result of calculating something

elevation — n. the height of a place

advance — n. to move forward

1 borough   

n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇

参考例句：

• He was slated for borough president.他被提名做自治区主席。
• That's what happened to Harry Barritt of London's Bromley borough.住在伦敦的布罗姆利自治市的哈里.巴里特就经历了此事。

2 boroughs   

（尤指大伦敦的）行政区( borough的名词复数 )； 议会中有代表的市镇

参考例句：

• London is made up of 32 boroughs. 伦敦由三十二个行政区组成。
• Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City. 布鲁克林区是纽约市的五个行政区之一。

3 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

4 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。