Mexico City continues to sink, and a new satellite now shows with high precision where the ground under the city is sinking the fastest. The data comes from the joint NISAR mission of NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization, which captured the movement of the terrain between October 25, 2025 and January 17, 2026, reports “Meteo Balkans”.
According to the analysis, parts of the Mexico City area have been sinking by more than 2 centimeters per month. At first glance, this sounds like a small value. However, for a city the size of the Mexican capital, such movement means cracked roads, damaged water pipes, deformed tunnels and buildings that are gradually starting to lose stability.
One of the most famous examples of urban subsidence in the world
Mexico City is one of the most famous examples of urban subsidence in the world. The area is built on an ancient lake bed and aquifer, and decades of massive groundwater pumping have compacted the soft sediments beneath the city. Add to that the sheer weight of modern urbanization—housing, roads, skyscrapers, industrial zones, and infrastructure.
The area is home to about 20 million people, putting constant pressure on groundwater supplies. When water is drawn from the ground, the voids in the sediments shrink. The terrain doesn’t “return” back. It compacts, and the city sinks.
The first serious engineering observations of this process were documented as early as 1925. During the 1990s and early 2000s, parts of the metropolitan area were sinking by about 14 inches (35 centimeters) per year. That was enough to cause problems for the subway—one of the largest rapid transit systems in America.
New satellite sees Earth’s movement through clouds and darkness
NISAR uses synthetic aperture radar, which can track subtle movements of the Earth’s surface regardless of cloud cover, darkness, or vegetation. This is key for monitoring processes that are invisible to the naked eye and cannot be reliably tracked with ground-based measurements alone.
The satellite flies over the same areas repeatedly and can detect changes in the terrain with great precision. The mission is set to launch in July 2025, and the new data for Mexico City are among the first clear examples of how the technology can be used to monitor cities, glaciers, farmland, and areas with active ground deformation.
NASA’s map shows the fastest-sinking areas in dark blue. The area around Benito Juarez International Airport is visible in the center of the image, and Lake Nabor Carrillo is to the northeast. The yellow and red areas in part of the image are likely residual noise in the preliminary data, which is expected to decrease as new observations accumulate.
Centimeters – an infrastructure problem
Mexico City’s sinking is not uniform. That is the big problem. If the entire city were sinking at the same rate, the damage would be easier to manage. But when some neighborhoods sink faster than others, roads split, pipes buckle, buildings tilt, and tunnels and rail tracks begin to work under constant structural pressure.
Water supply systems are among the most vulnerable systems. When the terrain moves unevenly, pipes crack, connections shift, and water losses increase. So a city that already pumps huge amounts of groundwater begins to lose even more of it through damaged infrastructure.
Transportation also pays the bill. Metro lines, road surfaces, bridge connections, and underground facilities require constant repairs because the foundation beneath them is not stable. This is not a one-time failure, but a slow process that turns maintenance into a constant expense.
The symbol that tells the story
One of the most visible examples is the Independence Monument on Paseo de la Reforma. Built in 1910, it is 36 meters high. Over the years, 14 steps have been added around its base — not because the monument was raised any higher, but because the land around it has gradually sunk.
This is a simple but very clear picture of the problem: the structure remains, the city around it is sinking.
Not an isolated case
Mexico City is not an isolated case. Land subsidence is observed in various parts of the world — especially in areas with soft soils, river deltas, intensive agriculture, coastal areas, and cities that rely heavily on groundwater. The difference is that the new generation of satellite observation makes these processes much harder to ignore.
NISAR carries two radars at different wavelengths and monitors the Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. Its reflector is about 12 meters in diameter – the largest radar antenna reflector sent by NASA into space.
For cities, this means earlier detection of risk areas. For engineers, more accurate maps for repair and construction. For institutions, data that can show where the infrastructure is under the most pressure before the problem erupts as an emergency.
Illustrative photo: pexels-david-gracia-242488507-12332831
