From USA Today--US East coast sinking at faster rate than previously thought.

https://www.aol.com/impacts-real-satellite-images-show-101731574.html

New satellite images show the eastern U.S. coast is sinking at a faster rate than what was first reported last year, according to a new study published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

Back in September, a team of scientists out of Southern California found that the New York City metro area is sinking at an average of 0.06 inches annually, USA TODAY previously reported. That number is now 0.08 inches in some areas, according to the new study published on Jan. 2.

"The problem is not just that the land is sinking. The problem is that the hotspots of sinking land intersect directly with population and infrastructure hubs," according to a statement from lead author Leonard Ohenhen, a graduate student working with associate professor Manoochehr Shirzaei at Virginia Tech’s Earth Observation and Innovation Lab.

Ohenhen, Shirzaei and colleagues from the Earth Observation and Innovation Lab at Virginia Tech measured "vertical land motion rates" obtained from space-based radar satellites "to evaluate the subsidence-hazard exposure to population, assets, and infrastructure systems/facilities" along the East Coast, according to the study.

The maps of the terrain are the first of their kind.

The new research is "extremely valuable," Patrick Barnard, a research geologist with the U.S .Geological Survey and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. "This information is needed," he said. "No one else is providing it."

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