Sea-level rise from land subsidence in major coastal cities

Cheryl Tay (), Eric O. Lindsey, Shi Tong Chin, Jamie W. McCaughey, David Bekaert, Michele Nguyen, Hook Hua, Gerald Manipon, Mohammed Karim, Benjamin P. Horton, Tanghua Li and Emma M. Hill
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Cheryl Tay: Nanyang Technological University
Eric O. Lindsey: Nanyang Technological University
Shi Tong Chin: Nanyang Technological University
Jamie W. McCaughey: Institute for Environmental Decisions, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich
David Bekaert: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
Michele Nguyen: Nanyang Technological University
Hook Hua: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
Gerald Manipon: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
Mohammed Karim: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
Benjamin P. Horton: Nanyang Technological University
Tanghua Li: Nanyang Technological University
Emma M. Hill: Nanyang Technological University

Nature Sustainability, 2022, vol. 5, issue 12, 1049-1057

Abstract: Abstract Coastal land can be lost at rapid rates due to relative sea-level rise (RSLR) resulting from local land subsidence. However, the comparative severity of local land subsidence is unknown due to high spatial variabilities and difficulties reconciling observations across localities. Here we provide self-consistent, high spatial resolution relative local land subsidence (RLLS) velocities derived from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar for the 48 largest coastal cities, which represent 20% of the global urban population. We show that cities experiencing the fastest RLLS are concentrated in Asia. RLLS is also more variable across the 48 cities (−16.2 to 1.1 mm per year) than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimations of vertical land motion (−5.2 to 4.9 mm per year). With our standardized method, the identification of relative vulnerabilities to RLLS and comparisons of RSLR effects accounting for RLLS are now possible across cities worldwide. These will better inform sustainable urban planning and future adaptation strategies in coastal cities.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-022-00947-z

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