Beachfront high-rises in Miami that house thousands of residents and tourists are sinking at rates that surprised experts. Researchers found 35 luxury buildings in Surfside, Bal Harbour, Miami Beach, and Sunny Isles sank between 2016 and 2023 in a process called subsiding, the Miami Herald reports. Some sank by eight-tenths of a inch, while others sank more than 3 inches, according to a study published Friday in Earth and Space Science. "Almost all the buildings at the coast itself, they're subsiding," said Falk Amelung, a geophysicist who was the study's senior author. "It's a lot."
It's been known high-rise buildings settle by as much as several tens of centimeters during and immediately after construction, reports the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science—whose scientists conducted the study. But they found out the settling can go on for years. Experts aren't sure of the implications, but several told the Herald this calls for more research and on-site inspections. The sinking could indicate that the rise in sea levels is accelerating the erosion of the limestone on which the area is built. Greenhouse gas emissions are driving the rise.
Researches began by looking at whether such sinking was behind the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers in Surfside, deciding it wasn't. But they found subsidence at other beachside buildings nearby. Sinking doesn't always lead to structural problems. "Sometimes it can be dangerous, sometimes not—it will have to be evaluated," said Shimon Wdowinski, a geophysicist at Florida International University. Researchers from other universities used other data and methods to validate the study's findings. (More study stories.)
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