Why Mexico City Is Sinking So Fast: NASA Reveals Capital Is Collapsing at an Alarming Rate
Mexico City, one of the largest and most densely populated urban centres in the world, is sinking at a shocking pace — so rapidly that the phenomenon is now clearly visible from space.
Fresh images released by the United States space agency NASA have highlighted the growing crisis, showing that certain parts of the Mexican capital are subsiding by more than half an inch every month, making it one of the fastest-sinking cities on Earth.
The alarming development is largely linked to the city’s heavy dependence on groundwater. According to NASA, Mexico City was built on the remains of an ancient high-altitude lakebed.
Beneath the sprawling metropolis lies a massive aquifer that currently provides nearly 60 per cent of the drinking water for its estimated 22 million residents.
However, decades of excessive groundwater extraction have severely drained this underground water reserve.
As water is continuously pumped out, the soft clay-rich ground beneath the city begins to compress and collapse, causing the land above to sink gradually over time.
Experts warn that this overexploitation has also deepened the city’s ongoing water crisis, raising fears of a possible “Day Zero” situation — a point at which water supplies could become critically insufficient.
Rapid urbanisation has further intensified the problem.
Continuous expansion, large-scale construction projects, and the immense weight of modern infrastructure are putting additional pressure on the already fragile soil, accelerating the rate of subsidence across several parts of the capital.
The issue is not new. Scientists first documented land subsidence in Mexico City nearly a century ago, during the 1920s. Since then, the effects have become increasingly visible in daily life.
Roads have cracked, buildings have tilted, and transportation networks have suffered repeated structural damage due to the uneven sinking of the ground.
Now, advanced satellite technology is offering a much clearer understanding of the crisis. Recent observations from NISAR — a collaborative Earth-monitoring mission developed jointly by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) — have revealed detailed patterns of ground movement beneath the city.
Using highly sensitive radar systems capable of detecting even the slightest shifts in Earth’s surface, NISAR monitored Mexico City during the dry season between October 2025 and January 2026.
The findings showed that some areas were sinking by as much as 0.8 inches every month, equivalent to more than 9.5 inches annually.
Among the worst-affected locations is the Benito Juárez International Airport, where subsidence continues to pose serious infrastructure challenges.
Another striking example is the famous Angel of Independence monument.
The 114-foot landmark, built in 1910 to commemorate Mexico’s independence, has reportedly required 14 extra steps to be added to its base over the years as the surrounding ground level steadily dropped.
“Mexico City is a well-known hot spot when it comes to subsidence, and images like this are just the beginning for NISAR,” NASA quoted David Bekaert, project manager at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research and a member of the NISAR science team, as saying.
He added that the mission is expected to uncover similar environmental changes in many other regions around the world in the coming years.
