A team of Virginia Tech scientists says portions of the East Coast—particularly densely populated coastal areas in the Mid-Atlantic region—are sinking faster than originally believed, putting at risk not only wetlands and agricultural areas, but also the structural integrity of roads, airports, dams and other types of built infrastructure.
The researchers, from the university's Earth Observation and Innovation lab, concluded that more than half of the infrastructure in cities like New York, Baltimore and Norfolk, Va., is located in areas that sank between 1 mm and 2 mm annually.