US–Indian space mission maps extreme subsidence in Mexico City

lleopoldj 2 days ago 26 commentsRead Article on phys.org

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Discussion (26 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

petcat•4 minutes ago

My understanding is that Mexico (the government and the people) are basically incapable of actually fixing anything in their country so I'm wondering how something like this would ever be addressed?

radicaldreamer•1 minute ago

Have you visited Mexico City? Your view of Mexico is likely colored by media (particularly social media) and the on-the-ground reality can be quite different.

While it’s not the best run place, it is perfectly capable of large scale infra projects and state capacity and capability is pretty well developed.

manquer•1 minute ago

[delayed]

hn_throwaway_99•about 2 hours ago

So, perhaps a dumb question, but the article mentions that 14 steps have been added to the base of the Angel of Independence monument, and the Wikipedia article mentions the same things:

> Originally, nine steps led to the base, but due to the sinking of the ground, an ongoing problem in Mexico City, fourteen more steps have been added.

So why didn't the monument itself also sink? Does it have piles going down to bedrock or something?

resist_futility•about 2 hours ago

thousands of wooden piles to create a foundation with the first one even failing and the foundation being reconstructed

http://www.mexicomaxico.org/ParisMex/resumen.htm

sandworm101•about 2 hours ago

Also from wikipedia: ... "The commission determined that the foundations of the monument were poorly planned, so it was decided to demolish the structure."

So yes, it has an engineered foundation, a double-engineered foundation. The roads around it almost certainly do not. So it is plausible that the monument is not sinking as quickly.

wartywhoa23•about 2 hours ago

Angels don't sink, they rise! :)

AntiUSAbah•about 2 hours ago

Depending of what stories you want to reference with this: Lucifer, Belial, Beelzebub all did not 'rise'.

wartywhoa23•about 1 hour ago

Surely The Angel Of Independence must ascend, no? :)

ani_k47•42 minutes ago

I really can't believe that an issue discovered in 1925 still isn't solved. A kind of issue which wont take a Nobel prize to be solved. This is sad.

chrisco255•16 minutes ago

What solution? The earth is constantly moving and churning. The article states the city is built on an aquifer.

trillic•1 minute ago

Mexico City was built on top of a lake that was dried to facilitate the expansion of the city.

pcrh•about 2 hours ago

The amount of subsidence is quite dramatic, up to 25 cm per year!

What are the practical consequences of this today, and what is being done to remedy this?

nadermx•about 1 hour ago

They are clearly not doing enough to remedy this; The only real solucion is to stop pumping the ground water, like I believe Japan did.

Schiendelman•7 minutes ago

Miami has a similar issue, doesn't it?

zx8080•23 minutes ago

Cloudflare: verification rejected. Accessing from Japan.

Thank you very much, Cloudlare.

gurjeet•about 3 hours ago

For the uninitiated, ISRO -> Indian Space Research Organization

anigbrowl•about 3 hours ago

I get that the article is primarily about the satellite capabilities, but it's rather annoying it doesn't mention what the future impact of the subsidence might be.

greggsy•about 3 hours ago

I think that it’s quite responsible not to speculate on something they’re not an expert on.

It’s exactly the sort of news bite that catastrophists glom onto.

This is responsible journalism.

PunchyHamster•about 2 hours ago

> I think that it’s quite responsible not to speculate on something they’re not an expert on.

"Recent satellite maps show Mexico City getting closer to hell at alarming rate"

anigbrowl•about 2 hours ago

They could just call a geologist and ask, or cite some published works on the topic. It's not responsible, it's lazy.

icegreentea2•about 1 hour ago

This is a phys.org "article". They're usually just rehashed press releases, and this one is particularly bad - it's literally just the NASA press release with the last 2 paragraphs chopped off. https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nisar/us-indian-space-mission-...

AntiUSAbah•about 2 hours ago

It breaks water lines which increases the water problem even faster. On one side because its expensive to fix and on the other side because small leaks lead to massive water losses you don't find fast or easy.

robocat•15 minutes ago

Also broken mains lead to sinkholes: https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cj9zex1r3kjo

barney54•about 2 hours ago

Nor does it say how much subsidence the satellite documented.

barbazoo•about 2 hours ago

There's this under the picture.

> New data from NISAR shows where Mexico City and its environs subsided by up to a few centimeters per month (shown in blue) between Oct. 25, 2025, and Jan. 17, 2026