Confirmed from space: San Francisco building is sinking

When buildings are put up, there is the expectation that they will stay the same way for as long as they are serviceable. However, what happens when they start Sinking or tilting or both? Panic! Maybe they will cause deaths due to the collapse or damage to the neighboring buildings. The problem is escalated when the building is located in an urban center and it costs its owners millions to put up. High-tech radar imaging has indeed confirmed this is just the case in California and have found that a San Francisco building is sinking.

According to physics, when a body leans, yet its center of gravity is still within its base, it will not fall as the case is with the leaning tower of Pisa. For the leaning tower of San Francisco, the case may not be the same since no studies have shown that it will stop its sinking or tilting since no one knows why it is sinking.

Millennium Tower

The Millennium Tower is one of the most luxurious buildings in the whole of San Francisco. This giant structure was built 8 years ago and has 58 floors. However, this beautiful tower has sank an average 8 inches and tilted 2 inches to one side since its completion. As one of the most planned for buildings, one cannot fail to wonder what is happening with the building as it is. Both local authorities and other interested parties have been wondering why this is happening when the building had a good plan put together before construction began. For a building of its value, this sinking and tilting poses a great danger to people and property around it.

San Francisco Building is Sinking and Going Fast

For a building this large, the fact that it has been found to sink on average 50 mm each year is puzzling. If this goes on without it ever stopping, what will happen in the long term to the building? If it were sinking directly downwards, maybe it can be assumed that it would simply go into the ground without a problem. However, it is also tiling to one side hence posing an even bigger problem than people had thought. Normal sinking would entail downward movement at an angle perpendicular to the surface. The 2 inches the building has moved to the side pose a danger to lots of property in the surrounding areas. It is only hoped that the sinking will cease and leave the beautiful structure standing.

Why the Sinking?

There have been many ideas on why the building is sinking in the first place. While some speculate that it could be due to the building not having been set on a solid bedrock, others state that the structure of the building was not in balance. The most sensible reason would be that both ideas are true given that if the supporting piles of the building are not set on solid rock, the building will sink. Also, if the structure is not right, the building will tip to one side as it is doing.

Help from above

To find out exactly what is happening to the building, the European Space Agency (ESA) has lent a hand from the heavens. Using radar technology to study the building and its alignment to the horizontal and vertical planes, the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites have established that indeed, the building is leaning to one side and has sank at least 8 inches since it was built. These satellites have very accurate radar equipment which makes them the very best in detailing out what has happened to the building. The fact that they see the building from space gives them the best angle at observing the building in relation to the rest of the planet.

Sentinel-1

According to University Today, the Sentinel-1 satellites are a pair of satellites that have been put in space to help in various aspects of the land, water and how the two relate. The two satellites use the Synthetic Aperture Radar technology to map out various parts of the earth. Although they were not built to see the structure of buildings, they are great at that and have given very accurate images of buildings and other land structures. Besides this sinking building, there are other areas in San Francisco that are facing the sinking as the area is prone to tectonic movements.

What does the builder say?

The party in charge of putting up the building has cited various reasons for the building having sank although he refuses to take the blame for the sinking of the building. Rather, he blames the sinking of the building on the Transbay Joint Powers Authority which is building a new transit center for the city. However, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority has put those accusations to bed and stated that the only reason why the building is sinking and tilting to one side is because it was not built on solid rock and has a poor structure. A lawsuit has been filed against the party in charge of building of the Tower and there is a high likelihood that the building will have images from the satellites used as evidence of its sinking.