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NASA Radar Tracks Mexico City Sinking

scienceMay 9, 2026·276 words·3 min read

Mexico City is sinking faster than almost anywhere else on Earth. New images from a powerful satellite show that some neighborhoods are dropping by more than two centimetres every month. The data comes from NISAR (the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), a joint project between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The problem started long ago. Mexico City was built on an old lake bed. The ground there is soft. When people pump water from underground, the soft soil shrinks. Today, about half of the city's water still comes from underground, and the water level there is falling about 40 centimetres every year. Records show the city has been sinking since at least 1925.

People can see the damage in the city. Old buildings lean. The Metropolitan Cathedral tilts to one side. Pipes crack and lose about 40 per cent of the city's water. The Angel of Independence has had 14 extra steps added since 1910 because the ground keeps falling. Scientists hope NISAR will help save buildings — but stopping the sinking would leave millions without water.

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