A 2026 NASA and ISRO report shows cities across Asia, the US, and China are slowly sinking due to groundwater use and heavy urban buildup.
America is sinking under its own cities
A sweeping study of the 28 most populated cities in the United States reveals a disturbing reality. Every single one is sinking to some extent according to satellite observations collected between 2015 to 2021. In 25 of these cities, at least two thirds of the land is actively subsiding. The dominant driver is groundwater extraction, which accounts for around 80 percent of total sinkage across the country as water is pumped from beneath urban foundations faster than nature can replenish it.
Researchers warn that this is not a distant projection but an active structural transformation of major urban zones. As cities expand, they increasingly grow into unstable sinking ground. Lead researcher Leonard Ohenhen from Columbia University stated that ongoing subsidence will push infrastructure beyond safety limits over time. Satellite imaging has allowed scientists to detect vertical land motion down to millimeter precision, revealing a hidden deformation of the American urban landscape that traditional ground surveys could never fully capture.
New York Weight Stress and Coastal Flood Amplification
New York City illustrates another layer of the crisis. The city is sinking at an average of 1 to 2 millimeters per year due to a combination of natural settling, groundwater withdrawal and the immense weight of its infrastructure. Researchers estimate that its 1,084,954 buildings weigh about 1.68 trillion pounds, placing extreme pressure on underlying soil structures. In some scenarios, localized sinking could reach up to 600 millimeters depending on ground composition, turning weight into a silent geological force reshaping the city.
This subsidence compounds the danger of rising seas and extreme weather. Scientists note that even a small downward shift in land elevation effectively accelerates flood exposure timelines. Coastal flooding risks increase sharply as storms like Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Ida demonstrated how vulnerable infrastructure already is. Experts emphasize that land sinking combined with climate driven sea level rise places cities like New York among the most at risk global urban centers for future inundation events.
Ice Age Ground Rebound and Hidden Geological Shifts
Not all sinking is human driven. Cities along the East Coast and Great Lakes region are also affected by glacial isostatic adjustment, a slow geological response to the last ice age. During that period, massive ice sheets pushed Earth’s crust downward like a compressed surface. When the ice melted, the land began to rebound, but unevenly. Some areas are still sinking as they sit near collapsing forebulge zones created by past ice pressure.
This process continues today beneath cities like Washington DC, Philadelphia and parts of New York. Scientists describe it as a delayed planetary recoil that is still reshaping elevation patterns thousands of years after the ice disappeared. Combined with modern groundwater extraction, this creates a dual pressure system where both ancient geological memory and modern human consumption are driving the same outcome, a steadily lowering urban foundation across multiple regions.
Sources: The News | NASA | ISRO | Space | Nature Cities
