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Posted by leopoldj 2 days ago

US–Indian space mission maps extreme subsidence in Mexico City(phys.org)
160 points | 63 commentspage 2
anigbrowl 16 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 16 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 15 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 15 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 14 hours 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 15 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 14 hours ago||
Also broken mains lead to sinkholes: https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cj9zex1r3kjo
dhosek 13 hours ago||
There are also abandoned mines under parts of the city which also contributes to hazardous conditions.
barney54 15 hours ago||
Nor does it say how much subsidence the satellite documented.
barbazoo 15 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

dhosek 13 hours ago||
The labels on the map were also confusing, and at first because of the relative positioning of the texts identifying the airport and the angel I thought up was East and not North, although a closer inspection made things clearer (and yes, up is North).
gnabgib 12 hours ago||
Uh, you know, from the original source - Nasa (2 points, 2 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47970672

Real shame this re-report made the SCP

burnt-resistor 9 hours ago||
In parts of Central Valley CA, there's been over 30 ft / 9m of subsidence from ground water extraction over several decades. (30 cm/y) Lone pipes and drains that previously sat at ground level tower over the land.
fleroviumna 16 hours ago||
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petcat 13 hours ago|
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radicaldreamer 13 hours 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.

petcat 13 hours ago||
[flagged]
jeromegv 12 hours ago|||
Majority of migrants are actually not “from” Mexico. It’s just a bad argument.
Crispness6482 13 hours ago|||
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jliendo 12 hours ago|||
Tu entendimiento está tan equivocado que no veo ni siquiera por dónde comenzar a debatirlo, quizás si primero sacas tu cabeza de tu trasero y empiezas a conocer el mundo sería un primer buen paso.
manquer 13 hours ago|||
Couldn't you say that about pretty much any government and people?
CPLX 13 hours ago||
The wealthy parts of Mexican cities are substantially more well-managed and upscale than the poor parts of American cities.

Of course, on average Mexico is poorer, has a lower GDP per capita, and so on. But the level of ignorance among Americans is astonishing sometimes.

llbbdd 12 hours ago||
Yeah that's "the government and people part", it's talking about the average. Of course the rich enclaves in Mexico are doing better than the average, you can find that in many places on the planet that are on average terrible places to live. But taking that into account makes it harder to crow about the ignorance of Americans, as it's so historically fun to do.
CPLX 12 hours ago||
Yeah but the guy said Mexicans are incapable of fixing “anything” in their country. Which makes is clear he has no actual connection to what it’s like to be in Mexico.

As someone who has actually done that, and speaks Spanish, and has spent considerable time in over a dozen Latin American countries my impression of Mexico is that it’s one of the wealthier and more advanced countries in the hemisphere and often feels like a borderline first world country on par with Southern European countries like say Greece.