Current:Home > reviewsA "silent hazard" is sinking buildings in Chicago and other major cities – and it "will only get worse" -TrueNorth Finance Path
A "silent hazard" is sinking buildings in Chicago and other major cities – and it "will only get worse"
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:12:56
There's a "silent hazard" threatening the future of major cities. A new study found that the ground underneath major cities is heating up so much that it's becoming deformed – and that buildings, as they are, likely won't be able to handle it as it gets worse.
The study was conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, who used Chicago as a "living laboratory" to research the impact that underground temperature variations have on infrastructure.
"The ground is deforming as a result of temperature variations, and no existing civil structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these variations," researcher and Northwestern professor Alessandro Rotta Loria said in a press release. "Although this phenomenon is not dangerous for people's safety necessarily, it will affect the normal day-to-day operations of foundation systems and civil infrastructure at large."
The problem is something called "underground climate change," otherwise known as "subsurface heat islands." It's a phenomenon that, along with threatening infrastructure, can lead to contaminated groundwater and impact health conditions such as asthma.
It's been minimally researched, so Rotta Loria and his team installed more than 150 temperature sensors above and below ground the Chicago Loop to learn more. Those sensors were put in basements, subway tunnels and buried under Grant Park along Lake Michigan, among other areas.
What they found is that underground temperatures in this loop are often 10 degrees Celsius warmer than those beneath Grant Park. Air temperatures vary even more – getting up to 25 degrees Celsius warmer compared to undisturbed ground temperatures.
Rotta Loria told CBS News that there is a "myriad of heat sources" underground that contribute to the warming, including basements, parking garages and subway tunnels.
"This is significant because it is renowned that materials such as soils, rocks and concrete deform when subjected to temperature variations," Rotta Loria said of his research, which was published July 11 in Communications Engineering, a Nature Portfolio journal.
And it isn't just happening in Chicago.
"We used Chicago as a living laboratory, but underground climate change is common to nearly all dense urban areas worldwide," Rotta Loria said in a Northwestern press release. "And all urban areas suffering from underground climate change are prone to have problems with infrastructure."
In Chicago, the ground is filled with clay, which Rotta Loria says can contract as temperatures increase, just as what happens with other types of soil. So as the temperatures increase, it's causing building foundations in the city to undergo "unwanted settlement, slowly but continuously."
"Underground climate change is a silent hazard," he said. "... In other words, you don't need to live in Venice to live in a city that is sinking – even if the causes for such phenomena are completely different."
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Protecting the Planet - CBS News (@cbsnewsplanet)
So why is all this happening?
"Global warming definitely plays a role in all of this," Rotta Loria said. "It is renowned that the temperature in the ground is linked to the temperature that we find at the surface of cities. So as the temperature above the ground is rising, also the temperature underground rises."
Parts of cities have been known to be up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than other spots just a few miles away because of the urban heat island effect. This effect is essentially a dome of heat that surrounds densely-populated cities that tend to have numerous buildings, scarce greenery, a lack of open space, and lots of emissions and dark concrete.
That makes the record heat that has been suffocating cities this summer substantially worse.
"So in the future, things will only get worse," Rotta Loria said.
- In:
- Chicago
- Climate Change
- Urban Heat Island
- Venice
Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.
veryGood! (74)
Related
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Live updates | Death toll rises to 12 with dozens injured in a strike on a crowded Gaza shelter
- Milwaukee Bucks to hire Doc Rivers as coach, replacing the fired Adrian Griffin
- Experimental gene therapy allows kids with inherited deafness to hear
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- Do Stanley cups contain lead? What you should know about claims, safety of the tumblers
- Pakistan accuses Indian agents of orchestrating the killing of 2 citizens on its soil
- Claudia Schiffer's cat Chip is purr-fection at the 'Argylle' premiere in London
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Water service restored to rural Tennessee town a week after winter storm, sub-freezing temperatures
Ranking
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Residents of Alaska’s capital dig out after snowfall for January hits near-record level for the city
- eBay layoffs 2024: E-commerce giant eliminating around 1,000 jobs, 9% of workforce
- Jim Harbaugh leaves his alma mater on top of college football. Will Michigan stay there?
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Flight recorders from Russian plane crash that killed all 74 aboard are reportedly found
- US and UK sanction four Yemeni Houthi leaders over Red Sea shipping attacks
- United Auto Workers endorses Biden's reelection bid
Recommendation
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
NBC Sports, Cosm partner to bring college football to 'shared reality' viewing experience
Milwaukee Bucks to hire Doc Rivers as coach, replacing the fired Adrian Griffin
Trump could testify as trial set to resume in his legal fight with E. Jean Carroll
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
U.S. Capitol rioter tells judge you could give me 100 years and I would still do it all over again
She fell near an icy bus stop in the city. She likely froze to death before help came.
Trump White House official convicted of defying Jan. 6 congressional subpoena to be sentenced