The financial and human costs stand to be significant even in cities where only certain areas are sinking faster than seas are rising, the researchers say. Oil and gas production and new construction also contribute to the problem. The research finds that the main driver of the accelerated subsidence is likely groundwater extraction as booming city populations put more pressure on underground aquifers for washing, cooking and bathing. Some of the sinking is tied to natural processes, but it’s greatly accelerated by human activity. The study shows that in Jakarta, the dense Indonesian capital that’s teeming with an estimated 11 million people, land subsided nearly 15 times as fast as global mean sea-level rise between 20-making it one of the fastest-sinking cities on Earth. Coastal subsidence is happening globally, but the biggest problem is in Asia-where rapidly urbanizing areas are increasing demand for groundwater. Using satellite data to measure subsidence rates in 99 coastal cities, the researchers found that many of those metropolises are sinking faster than sea levels are rising. That means flooding and other disruptions sharpened by future sea-level rise could hit those urban centers far sooner than expected, according to a study in Geophysical Research Letters. Now those risks are compounded by an accelerating danger: Most of those cities are also sinking. Rising seas threaten to consume the coastal areas of major metropolises around the world.
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