Underground Climate Change Could Crack Foundations and Warp Subway Tracks
A new study finds a rise in subterranean temperatures is causing the ground to shift beneath Chicago, in what could be a “silent hazard” for urban infrastructure around the globe.
A nearly empty sidewalk in Times Square during a heat wave in New York, on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/BloombergThe urban heat island effect goes deeper than the sidewalk: Pockets of heat in cities exist below ground as well, in what some scientists refer to as underground climate change.
Yet scientists are just beginning to understand how these subsurface heat islands alter the ground itself and the surrounding structures. A new study looking at the phenomenon in Chicago’s business district, or the Loop, suggests temperature fluctuations could cause the ground to expand and contract, threatening the stability of buildings and urban infrastructure. If excessive, this “can lead to issues such as cracking and unwanted deflections,” said Alessandro Rotta Loria, a civil and environmental engineering researcher at Northwestern University.