At a Glance

A new NASA study revealed land in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area isn't all sinking at the same rate.The region is one of the areas along the East Coast that's seeing the worst combination of land subsidence and sea level rise.The scientists hope the same procedure will be used to study other areas most vulnerable to climate change.

Climate change is not expected to impact the entire planet evenly. Not all countries, not all states and not all cities will have the same experience.

Take, for example, the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area.

According to , some parts of the land in the Hampton Roads area are subsiding much faster than other spots – up to 10 times faster in some areas. This could have major impacts on future city planning as coastal cities like Norfolk prepare for rising sea levels.

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The amount of subsidence varies seemingly from street to street – a testament to the incredible detail of the data used for the study. NASA scientists chose to focus on the Hampton Roads area because it is one of the areas along the East Coast that's experiencing the , according to a NASA release.

The new information was gathered from years of radar and satellite images combined with GPS and past subsidence observations, the release also said. The scientists are hopeful that these methods of studying data, paired with the launch of new satellites, will allow similar subsidence studies in other vulnerable regions of the country and world.

"Information regarding subsidence should be incorporated into land use decisions and taken into consideration for future planning," study co-authorBen Hamlington, a researcher at Old Dominion University, said in the release.