San Francisco's 58-Story Millennium Tower Seen Sinking From Space (sfgate.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from SFGate: Engineers in San Francisco have tunneled underground to try and understand the sinking of the 58-story Millennium Tower. Now comes an analysis from space. The European Space Agency has released detailed data from satellite imagery that shows the skyscraper in San Francisco's financial district is continuing to sink at a steady rate -- and perhaps faster than previously known. The luxury high-rise that opened its doors in 2009 has been dubbed the Leaning Tower of San Francisco. It has sunk about 16 inches into landfill and is tilting several inches to the northwest. Engineers have estimated the building is sinking at a rate of about 1-inch per year. The Sentinel-1 twin satellites show almost double that rate based on data collected from April 2015 to September 2016. The satellite data shows the Millennium Tower sunk 40 to 45 millimeters -- or 1.6 to 1.8 inches -- over a recent one-year period and almost double that amount -- 70 to 75 mm (2.6 to 2.9 inches) -- over its 17-month observation period, said Petar Marinkovic, founder and chief scientist of PPO Labs which analyzed the satellite's radar imagery for the ESA along with Norway-based research institute Norut. The Sentinel-1 study is not focused on the Millennium Tower but is part of a larger mission by the European Space Agency tracking urban ground movement around the world, and particularly subsidence "hotspots" in Europe, said Pierre Potin, Sentinel-1 mission manager for the ESA. The ESA decided to conduct regular observations of the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Hayward Fault, since it is prone to tectonic movement and earthquakes, said Potin, who is based in Italy. Data from the satellite, which is orbiting about 400 miles (700 kilometers) from the earth's surface, was recorded every 24 days. The building's developer, Millennium Partners, insists the building is safe for occupancy and could withstand an earthquake.

Comments

Pisa tower

[AchilleTalon]

The new Pisa tower.

Re:Pisa tower

[K. S. Kyosuke]

"When I first came here, this was all a landfill. Everyone said I was daft to build a tower on a landfill, but I built it all the same, just to show them. ..."

Re:Pisa tower

[Yvan256]

"It sank into the landfill. So I built a second one."

Re:Pisa tower

[chrisshaw]

That burned down, fell over, then sank into the landfill.

Define Conundrum

[Joviex]

Happy or sad that is was not a Trump Tower?

Re:Define Conundrum

[Anonymous Coward]

Conundrumpf?

"safe and could withstand an earthquake"

[ls671]

Millennium Partners, insists the building is safe for occupancy and could withstand an earthquake.

fine prints: "As long as the earthquake tilts it straight and doesn't make it tilt more in the northwest direction"

Re:"safe and could withstand an earthquake"

[LynnwoodRooster]

Those who insist you cannot build in SF are really just part of the alt-right with their anti-progressive soilist views on the Earth, where not all soils are equal. They need to get a clue from the more enlightened progressives of SF.

Re:CAGW

[MSojka]

... until all of SF topples into the bay.

And there will be much rejoicing.

In honor of the great Bill Hicks, I propose we name the resulting scenic landscape Arizona Bay.

Re:SF sinking further into hell

[stealth_finger]

Almost as if God is punishing them for something....

Like the rampant drug use, loose morals and homosexuality perhaps?

Nah, the smug.

Re:The "Mil-Lean-eum" Tower

[Zocalo]

Of course they are. That's the display department. You'll find the documents located in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard”, oh, and don't forget to take a flashlight and rope; the lights and stairs are both out.