China’s double whammy: Shanghai is sinking as sea level rise is fastest in 4,000 years
Researchers from Britain, China and the US warn in Nature article about increased flood risks from subsidence induced by human activity
Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are among key cities in delta regions, which are naturally prone to sinking because they were built on thick, soft sediment.
“It is extremely likely that the global mean sea-level rise rate since 1900 has exceeded any century over at least the past four millennia,” researchers from institutions in Britain, China and the United States wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature on Thursday. The average rate of the rise was around 1.5mm a year.
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“Our analysis indicates that at least 94 per cent of rapid modern urban subsidence is attributable to anthropogenic [human-induced] activities, with localised subsidence rates often exceeding global mean sea-level rise,” the scientists said.