Subsidence in the Ruhr, Germany

Based on ‘Persistent Scatterer Interferometry’ radar data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, the map shows how the land surface shifted in millimetres a year between 2014 and 2019 in the Ruhr in Germany. The subsidence shown in red is because of open pit lignite mining accompanied by groundwater lowering. Blue patches in the adjacent area are likely to be related to the rise of groundwater after mining activities ceased.

Read full story: Germany land motion mapped