Researchers find SFO runways sinking faster compared to other coastal airports
SAN FRANCISCO INT'L AIRPORT – As San Francisco International Airport prepares for what is expected to be a busy holiday travel season, a new study has found the airports runways are sinking at a faster rate compared to other runways around the country.
Day in and day out, planes take off and touch down SFO. But according to researchers Oluwaseyi Dasho and Manoochehr Shirzaei, of Virginia Tech, those runways are sinking.
"We don't want to imply that there is a danger, that they have to be concerned. But this is a warning for the future, and that future is not that far," said Shirzaei.
The researchers are in town to present their findings at the AGU 23 conference, put on by the American Geophysical Union.
Dasho and his team spent about seven years surveying infrastructure of 15 coastal U.S. airports, using satellite imagery to measure surface elevation. They found the runways at SFO are sinking at a rate of around 10mm a year, or about 0.4 inches.
"SFO was found to actually have the highest subsidence of the airports that we considered," Dasho said.
However, Dasho says it isn't happening all at once in an equal manner. It's differential subsidence, happening at varying rates along the runways.
"When you have differential subsidence along the runway, there is a higher risk of damage along the runway. Along the runway, if there are points higher than the others, it could lead to a change of slope, it could lead to caverning and bulging along the runway. When there is bulging along the runway, it could lead to ponding of water when there is rainfall," he told CBS News Bay Area. "We should be aware of our environment, we should be aware that the infrastructure we utilize are exposed to climate change events."
The shifts are small, say Dasho and Shirzaei, but they will add up in the long run. They hope their findings will serve as an eye opener for policymakers.
"The data that we produced helps policy makers prioritize where to spend the money, when, and how," Shirzaei said. "By prioritizing the infrastructure, we can reduce the vulnerability of the infrastructure to future hazards."
Dasho said we need to think about the future, now, as climate change will continue to impact life and infrastructure.
"Tackling this problem now, we'll save a lot of cost in the future. It's important that action is taken on time," he said. "The better we think about how to build resiliency infrastructure against climate change, the better."
A spokesperson for the airport told CBS News Bay Area they haven't had a chance to review the study and were not ready to comment on it.
However, the spokesperson said their Shoreline Protection Program, being developed to protect SFO from rising sea levels, will provide protection against 2080 levels and will be completed over 40 years in advance.
Shirzaei reiterated, the sinking runways pose no imminent threats.
"If we don't take any action to mitigate the land subsidence and sinking of the runways, that can result in a situation that poses threats to safety of aviation. But as of this moment, everything is safe," he said