Scientists Confirm New York City Is Sinking
It seems these days that humanity is constantly being plagued with new and returning issues regarding our population, supply chain, and, crucially, our infrastructure. According to a recent write-up in The Byte, New York City is sinking into the ocean, as confirmed by scientists. Certain sections of the Big Apple seem to be sinking at a rate of 0.06 inches per year, while other sections seem to be inexplicably rising, leading some to wonder if the city is overturning like that of a capsizing yacht.
New York City is slowly disappearing under the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
This comes as no surprise to some New Yorkers, who recently noted that unprecedented flooding has occurred during recent storms, possibly due to the City’s proximity to sea level. Some citizens even wondered if New York City was at risk of falling into the ocean due to the sheer weight of the trillions of pounds of steel contained in the many skyscrapers that dot the cultural hub’s iconic skyline. Scientists were quick to point out, however, that the weight on the five boroughs exerted by skyscrapers was of no concern in this matter.
The reason for New York City sinking each year is that large parts of the city are on the former ground of an ancient ice shelf.
In fact, studies seem to indicate that New York City is sinking into the watery depths simply as a result of naturally occurring geographic phenomena, which frequently see bodies of land swallowed and returned by the vast reaches of the ocean with time. Obviously, this geographical movement is less than ideal for a densely populated city that serves as a central cultural staple with millions of residents, so scientists have been putting their best minds on preventative action.
The actual reason for New York City’s sudden sinkage seems to be caused by the melting of glacial ice sheets tens of thousands of years in the past. Apparently, elevations are still being impacted to this day, leaving a large swatch of New York to droop and settle like a well-worn memory foam mattress. According to NASA-led studies regarding the geographic data, many sections of New York, as well as most of New England, are settled on the Earth’s crust in a location which used to sit atop an ice shelf which spanned more than a mile high, much like the wall in Game of Thrones.
Of course, this geographic melt impacts some areas more than others. For New York City, this means sinking into the briny depths that surround the island of Manhattan, whereas the Westernmost points of Connecticut will hardly recognize the slight change in altitude. The NASA study even pointed out how they expect different sections of the five boroughs to be impacted by the continued de-elevation, with some surprising results.
Different parts of New York City are sinking faster than others, while some are, inexplicably, rising.
Apparently, a number of isolated hotspots are sinking at an even greater rate than 0.06 inches per year, with some sections of New York City dipping at more than 0.18 inches in the same time frame. Hotspots seem to include locations like Queens, which is built mostly atop giant landfills.
This sinkage could have massive implications for certain Queens areas such as LaGuardia Airport, Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the residence of the fictional Heffernan family from the hit CBS sitcom The King of Queens.
