The Atlantis of the next centuries could be New York.
In the dialogues of Timaeus and Critias, Plato recounts how the mythical island arose, a rich, powerful and advanced power for its time, and how it was swallowed up by the sea, in the form of a tsunami or giant wave. He speculates that this was due to a punishment from the gods for the pride of its residents.
The philosopher of the cave wrote from hearsay. Those who confirm the submersion of the Big Apple, which will not take place in a day and a night like in Atlantis, do so based on a scientific study, which has just been published by Earths Future Journal, carried out by three oceanographers from the University of Rhode Island with the collaboration of researchers from the United States Geological Survey.
Perhaps there is also something of pride in the ever greater defiance of heights in this Babylon of modernity.
From the economic centers of the financial district in lower Manhattan or the new buildings that are climbing in Brooklyn and Queens, passing through the hallmarks of the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Tower, to the ultra modern skyscrapers of the corridor of the billionaires, all these peaks make up the identity of New York, its famous skyline.
Those same buildings that give the Big Apple that sense of bravado also contribute to its downfall.
Because New York is partly sinking, the aforementioned study confirms, due to the extraordinary weight of its vertiginous skyscrapers. This circumstance only worsens the exposure to floods to which the global metropolis is exposed as a consequence of the rise in sea level due to the impact of climate change.
Global warming is exacerbating the collapse. The water level surrounding New York has risen 22 centimeters since 1950, and major floods may quadruple in frequency by the end of the century.
The annual average of this land drop is between one and two millimeters, although the figure doubles in some areas. “A highly concentrated population of 8.4 million people faces varying degrees of danger from flooding in New York,” the document states.
This is a risk that it shares with other coastal cities in the world due to the climate emergency. In this area, “the problem accelerates”, the study points out.
This trend is magnified by the colossal infrastructure built in the Big Apple. This work shows that the metropolis has 1,084,954 buildings. The accumulated mass is distributed in more than 778.2 square kilometers. From these figures, scientists calculate that the weight stands at 762,048 million metric tons. Put to compare, this is equivalent to 1,381 pyramids of Giza (Egypt).
This enormous weight is pushing New York towards the bottom. While many of the large buildings sit on solid bedrock, such as shale, there is a mixture of other sands and clays that have accumulated, adding to a naturally occurring subsidence effect.
“Continued exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete,” it is noted. While this is true in other coastal settings as well, New York's “overweight” complicates the situation.
"There is no need to have an immediate panic," they said. The softer the ground, the greater the compression of the buildings, they continue. It was not a mistake to build large buildings in the city of skyscrapers, but they recommend keeping in mind that each building that rises presses down on the ground, towards Atlantis.
