Land Loss in Louisiana

Q: Is Louisiana losing a football field of land to the ocean every hour?

A: Yes. Both natural processes and human activities contribute to the land loss, though humans are primarily to blame. 

FULL QUESTION

Is Louisiana losing a football field of land to the ocean every hour?

FULL ANSWER

Yes. Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, a geology professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, told us by email, “Estimates vary a bit, but by and large the one football field per hour metaphor is very reasonable.” 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s most recent analysis in 2011, Louisiana lost an average of 16.6 square miles of land a year from 1985 to 2010, which equates to roughly a football field per hour. In total, the state lost 1,883 square miles of land between 1932 and 2010 — an area over 1.2 times larger than Rhode Island.

Scientists say Louisiana’s land loss involves at least three main factors — (1) reduced sediment flow from the Mississippi River and its tributaries, (2) subsidence, or the sinking of land, and (3) sea-level rise. These factors come about via natural processes, human interference or both.

However, before human interference, the interaction of natural processes led to a net increase of land in the region, which has led scientists to conclude that land loss in Louisiana is a human-caused