NASA monitored the sinking of the Mexican capital using the new NISAR satellite system from October last year to January this year. This is the period when the capital usually sees less rainfall.
According to the results of observations, part of the city was sinking at a rate of over two centimeters per month, but the speed is not the same in all parts of the metropolis.
Subsidence is caused by excessive use of groundwater, and the composition of the geological bedrock and the weight of buildings contribute to it. The Mexican capital was built on dried up lakes.
The center sank by up to 15 meters per century
In the 1980s, the phenomenon affected the city’s cathedral, when one of the two bell towers began to sag and tilt more than the other, Le Monde newspaper recalled. “The greatest difficulties are caused by the fact that the subsidence is not uniform, as the case of the cathedral showed,” said the director of risk analysis of the Mexican capital, Rafael Marin Cambranis.
According to city hall estimates, the center of Mexico City has sunk by roughly ten to 15 meters in one century.
However, subsidence also causes major problems for the functioning of sewers, subways and other underground infrastructure. It also concerns the main international airport in the Mexican metropolis, which, according to NASA records, is located in the area where the subsidence is strongest. Every year, it is therefore necessary to adjust the area of the track so that it is usable.
What about the football tabernacle?
The decline of the Mexican metropolis was already mentioned last week in our sports column in connection with the upcoming World Cup in football. Mexico City is one of the host cities of the upcoming championship, and the problem does not escape the Aztec Stadium, where the Czech national team will also play its match.
There is also concern around the famous stadium: videos of fans breaking off chunks of concrete are circulating on the internet, even from parts that have undergone renovations for the championship.
New measures
The Mexican authorities are trying to introduce measures that would mitigate the effects of the city’s decline. In 2025, they started a program called water acupuncture, which consists of injecting rainwater underground. The authorities also hope for a more efficient use of rainwater.
According to experts, another option to mitigate subsidence is to reduce the use of groundwater.
