Miami is sinking.
This is evident from a new study published in the journal Earth and space sciencesluxury beachfront condos and Florida city hotels are sinking into the ground at “unexpected” rates, the Miami Herald reports.
About 70 percent of buildings in the north and central part of the city of Sunny Isles were affected, according to the University of Miami, which compiled the report.
Researchers who published the study identified 35 buildings that reportedly sank up to two inches between 2016 and 2023.
Some iconic Miami landmarks are on the list of 35 buildings affected; the Faena Hotel, the Porche Design Tower, the Surf Club Towers, Trump Tower II, Trump International Beach Resorts and the Ritz-Carlton Residences. all belong to the sinking structures.
The Miami skyline is viewed from the Rickenbacker Causeway in South Florida, December 15, 2023 (@PPORTAL)
The study's senior author, Falk Amelung of the University of Miami, told the Miami Herald that virtually all buildings built along the coast of Miami's outer barrier islands are sinking.
The impetus for the study was actually in response to the tragic 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers in Surfside, which killed 98 people and ignited a fire for stronger structural ratings for apartments and condos across the state.
The researchers used satellite data that could measure small changes in subsidence – land subsidence – over time and found that subsidence was not the cause of the collapse of the Champlain Towers. Although they found no evidence of subsidence there, they battled ample evidence along the entire Miami coastline.
Rescue personnel work on the remains of the Champlain Towers South condo building, June 25, 2021, in Surfside, Florida (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Amelung told the Miami Herald that they found evidence of subsidence between 0.8 inches and just over two inches, primarily in Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, and at two buildings in Miami Beach: the Faena Hotel and the L'Atelier apartment. They found another copy in Bal Harbor.
What does that mean for the coastline and for those who live and holiday on it? No one knows for sure, not yet. More research is needed to determine what exactly this discovery will mean for the region.
Newly constructed buildings typically sink several inches in the first few years after they are built as they settle into the ground. Just because a building sinks a little doesn't mean it loses its structural integrity. Paul Chinowsky, a civil engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the Miami Herald that as long as the sinking was even and did not pitch the building, the structure would generally retain its integrity.
At this time, it is unclear whether the sinking buildings identified by the study are sinking uniformly or sinking in a way that could cause structural damage.
That will be the next step for researchers — to determine whether the buildings are sinking in a way that threatens to damage their structures and potentially endanger individuals in and around them.
Until more research is done, it won't be clear what exactly is causing the land subsidence, but climate change cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor.
Sea level rise – caused by human burning of fossil fuels that are warming the earth and changing the climate – has eroded the US coastline, including the underlying sand and limestone that support the piers that provide the structural support for high-rise apartment buildings.
Stronger waves and heavier rainfall – both consequences of the changing climate – can also contribute to coastline erosion.
In addition to threatening the structures themselves, problems like subsidence can also contribute to driving up home insurance costs. Americans have been moving to and building on disaster-prone land over the past two decades, whether in Florida, in wildfire-prone locations in the West, or on swaths of hail-prone land in central Texas.
This tendency to live and build in places where structures are constantly affected by the harsh weather has sent home insurance rates skyrocketing.
