Vertical land motion (VLM), angular distortion, and building risks for 28 urban cities in the United States.
Abstract: Land subsidence is a slow-moving hazard with adverse environmental and socioeconomic consequences worldwide. However, spatially dense subsidence rates to capture granular variations at high spatial density are often lacking, hindering assessment of associated infrastructure risk. We use space geodetic measurements from 2015 to 2021 to create high resolution maps of subsidence rates for 28 most populous US cities. We estimate that at least 20% of the urban area is sinking in all cities, mainly due to groundwater extraction, affecting ~34 million people. Additionally, more than 29,000 buildings are located in high and very high damage risk areas, indicating a greater likelihood of infrastructure damage. These datasets and information are crucial for developing ad hoc policies to adapt urban centers to these complex environmental challenges.
Publisher
University Libraries, Virginia TechCorresponding Author Name
Leonard OhenhenFiles/Folders in Dataset and Description
The data set contains 3 folders; each with 28 files.
a) InSARVLM_UScities folder contains 28 .txt files containing the Vertical land motion (VLM) in mm/year for 28 US cities. The cities include: New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX; Philadelphia, PA; San Diego, CA; Jacksonville, FL; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Washington, DC; Boston, MA; Portland, OR; San Antonio, TX; Austin, TX; Columbus, OH; Indianapolis, IN; Nashville, TN; El Paso, TX; Detroit, MI; Memphis, TN; Chicago, IL; Phoenix, AZ; Dallas, TX; San Jose, CA; Fort Worth, TX; Charlotte, NC; Denver, CO; Oklahoma City, OK; and Las Vegas, NV.
Each .txt file contains 4 columns:
Column 1: Longitude in deg
Column 2: Latitude in deg
Column 3: VLM in mm/year
Column 4: The standard deviation of VLM in mm/year
b) AngularDistortion folder contains 28 GeoTIFF files for the 28 US cities. There are 4 angular distortion categories: low-0, medium-1, high-2, and very high-3. These categories are based on the angular distortion values, viz: low (angular distortion<1/3,000), medium (1/3,000 ≤angular distortion<1/1,500), high (1/1,500 ≤angular distortion≤1/500), and very high (angular distortion>1/500).
c) Risk folder contains 28 GeoTIFF files for the 28 US cities. The GeoTIFF files have 4 risk levels (0-Very Low, 1-Low, 2-Medium, 3-High,4-Very High).
