Which Parts Of NYC Are Sinking Most Rapidly, According To NASA

NEW YORK CITY, NY — New York City is sinking, and some areas—like Queens and Governors Island—are falling more rapidly than others, according to a NASA-led study published in Science Advances last week.

For the study, researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and Rutgers University used radar to analyze upward and downward vertical land motion across the city from 2016 to 2023, NASA explained.

The scientists found that on average, the metropolitan area subsided by about 0.06 inches per year, which is about the same amount that a toenail grows in a month.

The areas where most of the land movement occurred were parts where the land had been modified, such as for the constriction of landfills, the report said. These kinds of activities make the ground looser and more compressible beneath buildings.

However, according to NASA, movement of land can also be caused by natural processes, like the readjustment of earth's mantle since the most recent ice age thousands of years ago.

"We’ve produced such a detailed map of vertical land motion in the New York City area that there are features popping out that haven’t been noticed before," the study's lead author Brett Buzzanga, a postdoctoral researcher at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote.

Two hotspots of subsidence are located alongside landfills in Queens, the team found. These include runway 13/31 at LaGuardia Airport, which is subsiding at a rate of about 0.15 inches per year, and Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is sinking at a rate of about 0.18 inches per year.

Also sinking more rapidly than average is the southern portion of Governors Island—which was built on 38 million square feet of rocks and dirt from early 20th century subway excavations—as well as sites near the ocean in Brooklyn’s Coney Island and Arverne by the Sea in Queens and on Rikers Island, the report said.

On the contrary, the team has identified uplift in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn—which is rising by about 0.06 inches per year—and in Woodside, Queens, which rose 0.27 inches per year between 2016 and 2019 before stabilizing.

Such estimates of land motion can be helpful to the city, which is investing in coastal defenses and infrastructure in the face of sea level rise, the study noted.

Next up, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is leading Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis, which officials said will surface displacement across North America and help scientists better monitor land motion and other changes related to natural hazards.