Mexico City is sinking almost 25 centimeters (10 inches) each year, NASA said this week in new satellite imagery that shows the land deformation can be tracked from space. The measurements, collected from October 2025 through January 2026, were used to quantify a subsidence rate that researchers say is among the fastest in the world for a major urban region.
NASA’s findings align with long-standing concerns about how Mexico City’s growth has changed the ground beneath it. The city and surrounding areas were built on the bed of an ancient lake, and many central streets were once channels that remained part of the region’s water system in rural peripheral areas.
Scientists say intensive pumping of underground water and urban development have reduced the aquifer substantially. As the aquifer shrinks, the ground surface drops, leaving older structures and monuments, including the Metropolitan Cathedral—construction of which began in 1573—visibly tilted, NASA said. The loss of groundwater storage has also contributed to what researchers describe as a chronic water crisis.
In testimony carried in the report, Enrique Cabral, a geophysics researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, said the sinking process harms critical infrastructure across the city. “Esto daña parte de la infraestructura crítica de Ciudad de México, como el metro, el sistema de drenaje, el agua, el sistema de agua potable, la vivienda y las calles”, Cabral said, adding that “Es un problema muy grande.”
NASA reported that subsidence varies by location. In some areas, the average monthly rate is about 2 centimeters (0.78 inches), including near the main airport and a monument known as the Angel of Independence. Taken together, the agency estimated an overall annual subsidence of roughly 24 centimeters (9.5 inches) and said that, over less than a century, the drop has totaled more than 12 meters (39 feet), citing Cabral.
The analysis relies on the NISAR satellite, described as a powerful instrument that can track changes in near real time across Earth’s surface. NASA said the initiative is a joint project between the agency and the Indian Space Research Organisation, and the calculations in the new work are based on NISAR measurements from the Oct. 2025 to Jan. 2026 period.
Paul Rosen, a NISAR scientist, said the satellite is able to capture fine details of the planet from space and also reveals what is happening underground. “Básicamente, es documentación de todos estos cambios dentro de una ciudad”, Rosen said. “Se puede ver la magnitud total del problema.”
Researchers said they plan to zoom in further over time to measure subsidence at more specific locations and, eventually, at the level of individual buildings. They also said the technology could be applied globally to monitor hazards and changes such as natural disasters, shifts along fault lines, and the impacts of climate change in regions including Antarctica, and that it could support early-warning efforts for evacuation needs.
For Mexico City, Cabral said the satellite-based approach represents an advance for understanding subsidence and limiting its worst effects. He said authorities had largely ignored the issue for decades other than stabilizing foundations under major monuments such as the cathedral, but that after recent worsening in the water crisis, the government has begun funding more research. Cabral said planning for long-term mitigation should start with understanding. “Para hacer una mitigación de largo plazo de la situación”, he said, “el primer paso es simplemente entender.”