Cultivated kelp can now be as good as wild kelp

You may not know much about alginates, but you have probably used them or eaten them. Cultivating kelp can help expand the market for this useful product

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

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THERE’S A LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE BY CULTIVATING KELP. KATHARINA NØKLING-EIDE, A PHD CANDIDATE AT THE NORWEGIAN SEAWEED BIOREFINERY PLATFORM, IS HELPING MAKE IT HAPPEN.

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CREDIT: PHOTO: ALEKSANDER STOKKE BÅTNES, NTNU

Norway’s exports products derived from from tangle kelp (Laminoria hyperborea) and knotted kelp (Ascophyllum nodosu) to the tune of more than NOK 1 billion a year. The industry mainly extracts alginate from kelp, which is used in over 600 different products as diverse as paint, soft serve ice cream, sauces, bandages, nappies, acid reflux medicine and material for encapsulating cells and medicine. However, the market is far from saturated.

“Alginate is becoming a scarce commodity on the global market. There are great opportunities here if we could cultivate more kelp that yielded alginate of good enough quality,” says Finn Aachmann, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) who heads the Norwegian Seaweed Biorefinery Platform.

Today, wild tangle kelp is harvested from the large kelp forests that grow naturally along the Norwegian coast, but there are limits on the amount that can be harvested. We need new resources if we want to expand the Norwegian kelp market. Cultivated kelp is a good alternative.

The kelp industry is expanding

Tangle kelp grows so slowly that its cultivation is simply not worthwhile. Over the past decade, the cultivation of more fast-growing kelp species has developed into a thriving industry.

“This year, between 600 and 700 tonnes of sugar kelp and winged kelp were grown on ropes in the sea,” says Katharina Nøkling-Eide, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian Seaweed Biorefinery Platform.

However, alginate comes in many forms, and cultivated sugar kelp and winged kelp don't produce alginate of the same high quality as wild tangle kelp does. Cultivated kelp is currently so expensive that it is only used in food production.

“This is a shame because production could be scaled up significantly through the development of new, high-quality products from cultivated kelp. Alginate could be one of these products,” says Nøkling-Eide.

Fortunately, new findings may help us be able to extract better alginate from the cultivated kelp. This research has been undertaken under the auspices of the Norwegian Seaweed Biorefinery Platform and Industrial Biotechnology (SFI-IB), a Norwegian Centre for Research-based Innovation.

Cultivated species can be just as good

“We have developed a new method for efficiently upgrading alginates from cultivated kelp,” says Aachmann.

The solution involves enzymes called epimerases. Enzymes promote chemical reactions between different substances without the enzymes themselves being used up.

“These epimerases convert mannuronic acid into guluronic acid in the alginate chain, so that the alginates are more similar to the tangle kelp alginates than they originally were, making them more industrially viable,” says the professor.

Researchers isolated these enzymes for the first time from an alginate-producing bacterium in Trondheim more than 50 years ago, so this research goes back a long way. However, it is not until now that the seaweed industry has embraced the solution.

Required additional time and resources – until now

“Over the past 30 years, several studies have shown that we can use these epimerases to upgrade alginates from seaweed and kelp, but the kelp industry has not yet started using them,” says Aachmann.

Upgrading alginates after they have been extracted and purified from the kelp biomass takes additional time and resources. So, the industry hasn’t really been tempted to use the method.

However, what if you could add these enzymes at the same time as extracting the alginate from kelp – so you wouldn’t have to spend extra time and money doing it afterwards?

This is exactly what researchers from SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have managed to do. They carried out the study in a joint laboratory for kelp in Trondheim.

Improves alginate during extraction

“We have shown that it is possible to epimerise alginates from sugar kelp, winged kelp and the lamina fraction, which is the leaf -like section at the top of the stalk, during the actual alginate extraction process,” says Nøkling-Eide.

In other words, the alginate is refined at the same time as it is being extracted from kelp. This saves time and is cost-effective.

“In large-scale trials, we managed to get an alginate from cultivated sugar kelp that was just as good as the industry would normally get from wild-harvested tangle kelp,” says Nøkling-Eide.

The researchers also believe that it is possible to achieve similar results with cultivated winged kelp.

Good news for kelp farmers

“The findings of this study are encouraging. In the future, Norwegian alginate may also come from cultivated kelp,” says Aachmann.

Kelp farmers are also dependent on established kelp markets, because they need someone to sell all their kelp to. This will help kelp farmers further increase their production.

“The alginate market is an established market that can help secure the livelihoods of kelp farmers in the future. In that sense, it is a win–win situation,” says Nøkling-Eide.

New products from kelp are important for SFI Industrial Biotechnology. The centre's partners are SINTEF, NTNU, NMBU and NORCE and 16 industrial companies.

Reference: Katharina Nøkling-Eide, Finn Lillelund Aachmann, Anne Tøndervik, Øystein Arlov, Håvard Sletta, In-process epimerisation of alginates from Saccharina latissima, Alaria esculenta and Laminaria hyperborean, Carbohydrate Polymers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121557

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JOURNAL

Carbohydrate Polymers

DOI

10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121557 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

In-process epimerisation of alginates from Saccharina latissima, Alaria esculenta and Laminaria hyperborea

 

CHINA

Monetized evaluation of landscape resources of national parks based on the willingness to pay of multiple interest groups

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

 

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FUNCTION ZONING AND CURRENT LAND USE OF QIANJIANGYUAN NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM PILOT ZONE

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CREDIT: PENG WANG

In China, national parks represent the country’s most unique natural landscapes. Scientific evaluation of landscape resources is significant for preserving the authenticity and integrity of national parks. Taking Qianjiangyuan National Park System Pilot Zone as an example, this research investigated the willingness of internal group (residents and administrative staff) and external group (tourists) to pay for a hypothetical market project based on the pilot zone via Contingent Valuation Method to acquire the monetized value of landscape resources in the national park, and applied Logistic Regression to analyze the influencing factors. The results show that the payment rate of external group is higher than that of internal group, and people with different demographics have different payment rates. Both internal and external groups are willing to pay to improve ecological environment, but there are significant differences on reasons for refusal—having a low income is the main reason for the internal group, and the external respondents refuse mainly because of the belief that the payment is owed to government finance. The total monetized value of the research area is 135 million yuan, of which the external value is much higher than internal value. The attitude factors influence landscape resource value more significantly than demographic and environmental factors. The assessment of landscape resource value of national parks is affected by perceptions and demands of multiple interest groups. This research suggests accelerating the construction of a standardized assessment technical system to support the establishment of national park system in China.

 

The work entitled “Monetized Evaluation of Landscape Resources of National Parks Based on the Willingness to Pay of Multiple Interest Groups” was published on the journal of Landscape Architecture Frontiers.

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JOURNAL

Landscape Architecture Frontiers

DOI

10.15302/J-LAF-1-020079 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Monetized Evaluation of Landscape Resources of National Parks Based on the Willingness to Pay of Multiple Interest Groups

 

How tomato plants use their roots to ration water during drought

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

 

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NEW WORK BY PROF. SIOBHAN BRADY AND ALEX CANTÓ-PASTOR AT THE UC DAVIS COLLEGE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SHOWS HOW TOMATO PLANTS CAN MAKE THEMSELVES MORE DROUGHT-TOLERANT BY PRODUCING A WAXY SUBSTANCE, SUBERIN, IN THEIR ROOTS. 

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CREDIT: TJ USHING/UC DAVIS COLLEGE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Plants have to be flexible to survive environmental changes, and the adaptive methods they deploy must often be as changeable as the shifts in climate and condition to which they adapt. To cope with drought, plant roots produce a water-repellent polymer called suberin that blocks water from flowing up towards the leaves, where it would quickly evaporate. Without suberin, the resulting water loss would be like leaving the tap running.

In some plants, suberin is produced by endodermal cells that line the vessels inside the roots. But in others, like tomatoes, suberin is produced in exodermal cells that sit just below the skin of the root.

The role of exodermal suberin has long been unknown, but a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, published Jan. 2 in Nature Plants shows that it serves the same function as endodermal suberin, and that without it, tomato plants are less able to cope with water stress. This information could help scientists design drought-resistant crops.

“This adds exodermal suberin to our toolbox of ways to help plants survive for longer and cope with drought,” said Siobhan Brady, professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, and senior author on the paper. “It’s almost like a jigsaw puzzle—if you can figure out which cells have modifications that protect the plant during difficult environmental conditions, you can start to ask questions like, if you build those defenses up one upon the other, does it make the plant stronger?”

In the new study, postdoctoral scholar Alex Cantó-Pastor worked with Brady and an international team of collaborators to uncover the role of exodermal suberin and map the genetic pathways that regulate its production.

Combining new and classical methods

“It's really the merging of classical and cutting-edge methodology that lets us look at both the process that's happening in an individual cell and what you see in the whole plant,” said Brady. “So going from super small to really, really big.”

Brady, Cantó-Pastor and colleagues started by identifying all of the genes that are actively used by root exodermal cells. Then they performed gene editing to create mutant strains of tomato plant that lacked functional versions of several genes they suspected might be involved in suberin production. They discovered seven genes that were necessary for suberin deposition.  

Next, the researchers tested exodermal suberin's role in drought tolerance by exposing some of the mutant tomato plants to a ten-day drought. For these experiments, the researchers focused on two genes: SIASFT, an enzyme involved in suberin production and SlMYB92, a transcription factor that controls the expression of other genes involved in suberin production.

The experiments confirmed that both genes are necessary for suberin production and that without them, tomato plants are less able to cope with water stress. The mutant plants grew as well as normal plants when they were well-watered but became significantly more wilted after ten days with no water.

“In both of those cases where you have mutations in those genes, the plants are more stressed and they're not able to respond to drought conditions,” Brady said.

Having shown suberin’s worth in a greenhouse setting, the researchers now plan to test suberin’s drought-proofing potential in the field.

“We’ve been working on taking this finding and putting it into the field to try and make tomatoes more drought tolerant,” Brady said.

Additional authors on the paper are: at UC Davis, Lidor Shaar-Moshe, Concepción Manzano, Sharon Gray, He Yang, Sana Mohammad, Niba Nirmal, G. Alex Mason, Mona Gouran, Kaisa Kajala, Kenneth A. Shackel, Donnelly A. West and Neelima Sinha; Prakash Timilsena and Song Li, Virginia Tech; Damien De Bellis, Robertas Ursache and Niko Geldner, University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Julia Holbein, Kiran Suresh and Rochus Benni Franke, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, Germany; Alexander T. Borowsky and Julia Bailey-Serres, UC Riverside.,

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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JOURNAL

Nature Plants

DOI

10.1038/s41477-023-01567-x 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A suberized exodermis is required for tomato drought tolerance.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Jan-2024

 

Reducing inequality is essential in tackling climate crisis, researchers argue

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

In a report just published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers argue that tackling inequality is vital in moving the world towards Net-Zero – because inequality constrains who can feasibly adopt low-carbon behaviours.

They say that changes are needed across society if we are to mitigate climate change effectively. Although wealthy people have very large carbon footprints, they often have the means to reduce their carbon footprint more easily than those on lower incomes.

The researchers say there is lack of political recognition of the barriers that can make it difficult for people to change to more climate-friendly behaviours.

They suggest that policymakers provide equal opportunities for low-carbon behaviours across all income brackets of society.

The report defines inequality in various ways: in terms of wealth and income, political influence, free time, and access to low-carbon options such as public transport and housing insulation subsidies.

“It’s increasingly acknowledged that there’s inequality in terms of who causes climate change and who suffers the consequences, but there’s far less attention being paid to the effect of inequality in changing behaviours to reduce carbon emissions,” said Dr Charlotte Kukowski, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Cambridge Departments of Psychology and Zoology, and first author of the report.

She added: “People on lower incomes can be more restricted in the things they can do to help reduce their carbon footprint, in terms of the cost and time associated with doing things differently.”

The researchers found that deep-rooted inequalities can restrict people’s capacity to switch to lower-carbon behaviours in many ways. For example:

• Insulating a house in the UK can be costly, and government subsidies are generally only available for homeowners; renters have little control over the houses they live in.

The UK has large numbers of old, badly insulated houses that require more energy to heat than new-build homes. The researchers call for appropriate government schemes that make it more feasible for people in lower income groups to reduce the carbon emissions of their home.

• Cooking more meat-free meals: plant-based meat alternatives currently tend to be less affordable than the animal products they are trying to replace.

Eating more plant-based foods instead of meat and animal-derived products is one of the most effective changes an individual can make in reducing their carbon footprint.

• Buying an electric car or an electric bike is a substantial upfront cost, and people who aren’t in permanent employment often can’t benefit from tax breaks or financing available through employer schemes.

Other low-carbon transport options - such as using public transport instead of a private car - are made less feasible for many due to poor services, particularly in rural areas.

Sometimes the lower-carbon options are more expensive - and this makes them less accessible to people on lower incomes.

“If you have more money you're likely to cause more carbon emissions, but you're also more likely to have greater ability to change the things you do and reduce those emissions,” said Dr Emma Garnett, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and second author of the report.

She added: “Interventions targeting high-emitting individuals are urgently needed, but also many areas where there are lower-carbon choices - like food and transport - need everyone to be involved.”

The researchers say that campaigns to encourage people to switch to lower-carbon behaviours have tended to focus on providing information. While this is important in helping people understand the issues, there can still be many barriers to making changes.

They suggest a range of policy interventions, such as urban planning to include bus and bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly routes, progressive taxation rates on wealth and income, and employer-subsidised low-carbon meal options.

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DOI

10.1038/s41558-023-01900-4 

ARTICLE TITLE

Nature Climate Change

 

Evolution might stop humans from solving climate change, says new study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

 

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PHOTO OF TIM WARING. 

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CREDIT: TIM WARING

Central features of human evolution may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change, says a new study led by the University of Maine.

Humans have come to dominate the planet with tools and systems to exploit natural resources that were refined over thousands of years through the process of cultural adaptation to the environment. University of Maine evolutionary biologist Tim Waring wanted to know how this process of cultural adaptation to the environment might influence the goal of solving global environmental problems. What he found was counterintuitive.

The project sought to understand three core questions: how human evolution has operated in the context of environmental resources, how human evolution has contributed to the multiple global environmental crises and how global environmental limits might change the outcomes of human evolution in the future.

Waring’s team outlined their findings in a new paper published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Other authors of the study include Zach Wood, UMaine alumni, and Eörs Szathmáry, a professor at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary.

Human expansion

The study explored how human societies’ use of the environment changed over our evolutionary history. The research team investigated changes in the ecological niche of human populations, including factors such as the natural resources they used, how intensively they were used, what systems and methods emerged to use those resources and the environmental impacts that resulted from their usage.

This effort revealed a set of common patterns. Over the last 100,000 years, human groups have progressively used more types of resources, with more intensity, at greater scales and with greater environmental impacts. Those groups often then spread to new environments with new resources. 

The global human expansion was facilitated by the process of cultural adaptation to the environment. This leads to the accumulation of adaptive cultural traits — social systems and technology to help exploit and control environmental resources such as agricultural practices, fishing methods, irrigation infrastructure, energy technology and social systems for managing each of these.

“Human evolution is mostly driven by cultural change, which is faster than genetic evolution. That greater speed of adaptation has made it possible for humans to colonize all habitable land worldwide,” says Waring, associate professor with the UMaine Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the School of Economics. 

Moreover, this process accelerates because of a positive feedback process: as groups get larger, they accumulate adaptive cultural traits more rapidly, which provides more resources and enables faster growth. 

“For the last 100,000 years, this has been good news for our species as a whole.” Waring says, “but this expansion has depended on large amounts of available resources and space.”

Today, humans have also run out of space. We have reached the physical limits of the biosphere and laid claim to most of the resources it has to offer. Our expansion also is catching up with us. Our cultural adaptations, particularly the industrial use of fossil fuels, have created dangerous global environmental problems that jeopardize our safety and access to future resources.

Global limits

To see what these findings mean for solving global challenges like climate change, the research team looked at when and how sustainable human systems emerged in the past. Waring and his colleagues found two general patterns. First, sustainable systems tend to grow and spread only after groups have struggled or failed to maintain their resources in the first place. For example, the U.S. regulated industrial sulfur and nitrogen dioxide emissions in 1990, but only after we had determined that they caused acid rain and acidified many water bodies in the Northeast. This delayed action presents a major problem today as we threaten other global limits. For climate change, humans need to solve the problem before we cause a crash.

Second, researchers also found evidence that strong systems of environmental protection tend to address problems within existing societies, not between them. For example, managing regional water systems requires regional cooperation, regional infrastructure and technology, and these arise through regional cultural evolution. The presence of societies of the right scale is, therefore, a critical limiting factor.

Tackling the climate crisis effectively will probably require new worldwide regulatory, economic and social systems — ones that generate greater cooperation and authority than existing systems like the Paris Agreement. To establish and operate those systems, humans need a functional social system for the planet, which we don’t have. 

“One problem is that we don’t have a coordinated global society which could implement these systems,” says Waring, “We only have sub-global groups, which probably won’t suffice. But you can imagine cooperative treaties to address these shared challenges. So, that’s the easy problem.”

The other problem is much worse, Waring says. In a world filled with sub-global groups, cultural evolution among these groups will tend to solve the wrong problems, benefitting the interests of nations and corporations and delaying action on shared priorities. Cultural evolution among groups would tend to exacerbate resource competition and could lead to direct conflict between groups and even global human dieback.

“This means global challenges like climate change are much harder to solve than previously considered,” says Waring. “It’s not just that they are the hardest thing our species has ever done. They absolutely are. The bigger problem is that central features in human evolution are likely working against our ability to solve them. To solve global collective challenges we have to swim upstream.”

Looking forward

Waring and his colleagues think that their analysis can help navigate the future of human evolution on a limited Earth. Their paper is the first to propose that human evolution may oppose the emergence of collective global problems and further research is needed to develop and test this theory.

Waring’s team proposes several applied research efforts to better understand the drivers of cultural evolution and search for ways to reduce global environmental competition, given how human evolution works. For example, research is needed to document the patterns and strength of human cultural evolution in the past and present. Studies could focus on the past processes that lead to the human domination of the biosphere, and on the ways cultural adaptation to the environment is occurring today. 

But if the general outline proves to be correct, and human evolution tends to oppose collective solutions to global environmental problems, as the authors suggest, then some very pressing questions need to be answered. This includes whether we can use this knowledge to improve the global response to climate change.  

“There is hope, of course, that humans may solve climate change. We have built cooperative governance before, although never like this: in a rush at a global scale.” Waring says. 

The growth of international environmental policy provides some hope. Successful examples include the Montreal Protocol to limit ozone-depleting gasses, and the global moratorium on commercial whaling. 

New efforts should include fostering more intentional, peaceful and ethical systems of mutual self-limitation, particularly through market regulations and enforceable treaties, that bind human groups across the planet together ever more tightly into a functional unit.

But that model may not work for climate change.

“Our paper explains why and how building cooperative governance at the global scale is different, and helps researchers and policymakers be more clear-headed about how to work toward global solutions,” says Waring. 

This new research could lead to a novel policy mechanism to address the climate crisis: modifying the process of adaptive change among corporations and nations may be a powerful way to address global environmental risks. 

As for whether humans can continue to survive on a limited planet, Waring says “we don’t have any solutions for this idea of a long-term evolutionary trap, as we barely understand the problem.” says Waring. 

“If our conclusions are even close to being correct, we need to study this much more carefully,” he says.

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JOURNAL

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rstb.2022.0259 

ARTICLE TITLE

Characteristic processes of human evolution caused the Anthropocene and may obstruct its global solutions

 

Understanding climate mobilities: New study examines perspectives from South Florida practitioners

As climate change continues to impact people across South Florida, the need for adaptive responses becomes increasingly important.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL OF MARINE, ATMOSPHERIC, AND EARTH SCIENCE

 

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CLIMATE MOBILITIES, WHILE PRESENTING BENEFITS, ALSO POSE SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES. THEY SERVE AS A PATH FOR ADAPTATION PLANNING AND POLICIES, PROMPTING CRUCIAL QUESTIONS ABOUT INCORPORATION INTO POLICY PLANNING AND THE NEED FOR FUNDAMENTAL INNOVATIONS.

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CREDIT: NADIA A. SEETERAM, PH.D.

Understanding Climate Mobilities: New study examines perspectives from South Florida practitioners

As climate change continues to impact people across South Florida, the need for adaptive responses becomes increasingly important.

A recent study led by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, assessed the perspectives of 76 diverse South Florida climate adaptation professionals. The study titled, “Practitioner perspectives on climate mobilities in South Florida” was published in the December issue of the Journal Oxford Open Climate Change, and explores the expectations and concerns of practitioners from the private sector, community-based organizations, and government agencies about the region’s ability to adapt in the face of increasing sea level rise and diverse consequences for where people live and move, also known as climate mobility.

Conducted through extensive interviews, the research underscores the growing significance of climate mobility as a crucial adaptive response in the face of increased climate challenges. While previous studies have primarily focused on resident perspectives on mobility, this study delves into the views of professionals, offering insights that could potentially shape future strategies and outcomes.

"This study is a deep dive aiming to understand the perspectives of leading experts on where we are right now in our climate responses in South Florida,” said Katharine Mach, lead author of the study and a professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School. “These types of conversations are crucial to our prospects for unleashing innovations and successes in regional climate adaptations and preparedness.”

 

Key findings reveal a consensus among the professionals about the inevitability of various forms of climate mobilities in South Florida. Anticipated movements of people and infrastructure assets away from hazardous areas were highlighted, indicating an urgent need for comprehensive adaptation planning.

However, while recognizing the necessity of climate mobility strategies, the interviewed practitioners expressed concerns regarding the current impact of such movements. They highlighted issues of distributional inequities, socio-cultural disruptions, and financial disparities arising from ongoing migrations and gentrification in which climate plays some role.

The findings illuminated a critical gap between individual preparedness among practitioners and the overall readiness of the region to support and manage the expected climate-driven relocations. This discrepancy raises concerns about collective-action failures and the urgency for a more ambitious, long-term transition plan.

Climate mobilities, while presenting benefits, also pose significant challenges. They serve as a path for adaptation planning and policies, prompting crucial questions about incorporation into policy planning and the need for fundamental innovations.

According to the researchers, the study serves as an intervention itself, providing insights that might otherwise remain unexplored, fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with climate mobilities. The findings aim to inform and guide policymakers, stakeholders, and practitioners toward more proactive and inclusive approaches to climate adaptation.

The study’s authors include: Katharine J. Mach1,2, Jennifer Niemann1,2, Rosalind Donald3, Jessica Owley1,2,4, Nadia A. Seeteram5, A.R. Siders 6,7, Xavier I. Cortada 2,4,8,9, Alex Nyburg10, Adam Roberti11, Ian A. Wright12

1 Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA. 2 Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA. 3 School of Communication, American University, Washington, DC, USA. 4 University of Miami School of Law, Coral Gables, FL, USA. 5 Columbia Climate School, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. 6 Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. 7 Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. 8 Department of Art and Art History, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA. 9 Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA. 10 Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA. 11 Xavier Cortada Foundation, Pinecrest Gardens, FL, USA. 12 Department of Economics, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA

The study was supported by the University of Miami Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge (U-LINK), the Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the U.S. National Science Foundation, award numbers 2034308 and 2034239.

About the University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private research university and academic health system with a distinct geographic capacity to connect institutions, individuals, and ideas across the hemisphere and around the world. The University’s vibrant and diverse academic community comprises 12 schools and colleges serving more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 180 majors and programs. Located within one of the most dynamic and multicultural cities in the world, the University is building new bridges across geographic, cultural, and intellectual borders, bringing a passion for scholarly excellence, a spirit of innovation, a respect for including and elevating diverse voices, and a commitment to tackling the challenges facing our world. Founded in the 1940’s, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science has grown into one of the world’s premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. www.earth.miami.edu.

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JOURNAL

Oxford Open Climate Change

DOI

10.1093/oxfclm/kgad015 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Practitioner perspectives on climate mobilities in South Florida

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Dec-2023

COI STATEMENT

none

 

Subsidence risk on the U.S. East Coast

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PNAS NEXUS

 

IMAGE: 

VERTICAL LAND MOTION ON THE US EAST COAST (LEFT); PRIMARY, SECONDARY, AND INTERSTATE ROADS IN HAMPTON ROADS, VA (TOP RIGHT), AND JFK AIRPORT (BOTTOM RIGHT). NOTE THAT THE YELLOW ORANGE AND RED AREAS ON THESE MAPS INDICATE SINKING.

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CREDIT: OHENHEN ET AL.

A large area of the U.S. East Coast is sinking. Within that extent, a smaller area of up to 3,700 km2 is sinking more than 5 mm per year. Subsidence can undermine building foundations, damage roads, gas and water lines, cause building collapse, and exacerbate coastal flooding—especially when paired with sea level rise due to climate change. Leonard O. Ohenhen and colleagues used measurements of vertical land motion rates derived from radar satellite datasets to estimate which areas, populations, and infrastructure within 100 km of the U.S. East Coast are at risk of land subsidence. Subsidence rates of 2 mm per year affect up to 2.1 million people and 867,000 properties on the East Coast, with several communities having over 60% of their land area sinking, including Norfolk, VA; Virginia Beach, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Queens, the Bronx, and Long Island in New York City. In these communities, several critical infrastructures such as roads, railways, airports, and levees are also affected by differing subsidence rates. For example, the JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York show several areas sinking at more than 2 mm per year, including the runways. Subsidence is often caused by groundwater extraction or sediment compaction. Some cities are rising, however, as the North American continent continues its long slow rebound from the weight of the glaciers that pressed the land downwards during the last glacial period, around 10,000 years ago. Today, around the Chesapeake Bay, a patchy mix of rising and falling land creates medium–high risk of differential subsidence, in which angular distortion caused by strain changes between two adjacent points can tear structures apart over time. The authors note that while there is no universally agreed-upon threshold of subsidence that raises concern for policymakers and citizens, continuous unmitigated subsidence on the U.S. East Coast could cause concern particularly due to the high population and property density and the complacency towards infrastructure maintenance.

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JOURNAL

PNAS Nexus

ARTICLE TITLE

Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Jan-2024

Study: From NYC to DC and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking

Peer-Reviewed Publication

VIRGINIA TECH

 

IMAGE: 

THE ABOVE GRAPHIC FEATURES: A SPATIAL MAP OF VERTICAL LAND MOTION ON THE EAST COAST (LEFT PANEL); PRIMARY, SECONDARY, AND INTERSTATE ROADS ON HAMPTON ROADS, NORFOLK, AND VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA (TOP RIGHT PANEL); AND JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, NEW YORK (BOTTOM RIGHT PANEL). THE YELLOW, ORANGE AND RED AREAS ON THESE MAPS DENOTE AREAS OF SINKING.

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CREDIT: IMAGES BY LEONARD OHENHEN.

Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year – a decline at the ocean’s edge that well outpaces global sea level rise, confirms new research from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, and Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seeing areas of rapid “subsidence,” or sinking land, alongside more slowly sinking or relatively stable ground, increasing the risk to roadways, runways, building foundations, rail lines, and pipelines, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

“Continuous unmitigated subsidence on the U.S. East Coast should cause concern,” said lead author Leonard Ohenhen, a graduate student working with Associate Professor Manoochehr Shirzaei at Virginia Tech’s Earth Observation and Innovation Lab. “This is particularly in areas with a high population and property density and a historical complacency toward infrastructure maintenance.”

Shirzaei and his research team pulled together a vast collection of data points measured by space-based radar satellites and used this highly accurate information to build digital terrain maps that show exactly where sinking landscapes present risks to the health of vital infrastructure. Using the publicly available satellite imagery, Shirzaei and Ohenhen measured millions of occurrences of land subsidence spanning multiple years. They then created some of the world's first high resolution depictions of the land subsidence.

These groundbreaking new maps show that a large area of the East Coast is sinking at least 2 mm per year, with several areas along the mid-Atlantic coast of up to 3,700 square kilometers, or more than 1,400 square miles, sinking more than 5 mm per year, more than the current 4 mm per year global rate of sea level rise.

“We measured subsidence rates of 2 mm per year affecting more than 2 million people and 800,000 properties on the East Coast,” Shirzaei said. “We know to some extent that the land is sinking. Through this study, we highlight that sinking of the land is not an intangible threat. It affects you and I and everyone, it may be gradual, but the impacts are real.”

In several cities along the East Coast, multiple critical infrastructures such as roads, railways, airports, and levees are affected by differing subsidence rates.

“Here, the problem is not just that the land is sinking. The problem is that the hotspots of sinking land intersect directly with population and infrastructure hubs,” said Ohenhen. “For example, significant areas of critical infrastructure in New York, including JFK and LaGuardia airports and its runways, along with the railway systems, are affected by subsidence rates exceeding 2 mm per year. The effects of these right now and into the future are potential damage to infrastructure and increased flood risks."

The new findings appear in the open access journal PNAS Nexus. In the work “Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast,” Virginia Tech and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists measured how much the land along the East Coast has sunk and which areas, populations, and critical infrastructure within 100 km of the coast are at risk of land subsidence. Subsidence can undermine building foundations; damage roads, gas, and water lines; cause building collapse; and exacerbate coastal flooding – especially when paired with sea level rise caused by climate change.

“This information is needed. No one else is providing it,” said Patrick Barnard, a research geologist with the USGS and co-author of the study. “Shirzaei and his Virginia Tech team stepped into that niche with his technical expertise and is providing something extremely valuable.”

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JOURNAL

PNAS Nexus

ARTICLE TITLE

Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Jan-2024