Energy and commodities
The oil market's secrets sit in plain view, photographed twice a week.
The roof tells you how full the tank is. Physics does the maths.Floating-roof tank volume estimation from shadow geometry
External floating-roof tanks cast a shadow whose length encodes fill level. Sub-metre optical satellites convert that shadow, via sun geometry at acquisition time, into barrel-level inventory estimates without any ground access.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
A refinery can close its gates. It cannot hide its heat.Refinery unit utilisation signals from thermal infrared
Thermal infrared imagery from Landsat 8/9 TIRS and ECOSTRESS reveals the operating state of crude-distillation and catalytic-cracking units through radiant temperature anomalies at process heaters, flare stacks, and cooling towers, providing independent run-rate signals for commodity and credit analysts.
Landsat 8 TIRSLandsat 9 TIRS-2ECOSTRESS (ISS)
Dirt moves. Coherence drops. The schedule becomes visible.Pipeline construction progress monitoring with SAR coherence
SAR coherence change detection tracks right-of-way clearing, trenching, pipe stringing and backfill along overland pipeline corridors without waiting for cloud-free optical windows. Sentinel-1 C-band provides free, systematic coverage; ICEYE and Capella Space X-band adds the resolution needed for segment-level progress reporting.
Sentinel-1 A/B C-band SARICEYE X-band SARCapella Space X-band SAR
Methane is invisible to the eye. It is not invisible at 2.3 micrometres.Methane leak detection along gas pipeline corridors
Shortwave infrared spectroscopy from orbit can detect methane column anomalies above gas pipeline corridors, pinpointing leaks from individual flanges to diffuse corridor-wide seepage. Three complementary satellite systems now cover detection thresholds from sub-100 kg/hr point sources to basin-scale plumes.
GHGSat-C series (Claire, Iris, Luca, Oliver, Hugo and others)Sentinel-5P TROPOMIEMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, ISS)
The ground moves first. The pipe fails second.Pipeline integrity assessment via ground-movement InSAR
Interferometric SAR detects millimetre-scale surface deformation along pipeline corridors weeks or months before a structural failure becomes visible. This page explains which sensors, methods, and detection limits apply.
Sentinel-1 (C-band SAR, ESA/Copernicus)ICEYE X-band SAR constellationCapella Space X-band SAR
Vessels go dark. Their waterlines do not.LNG terminal throughput inference from vessel activity
Combining AIS tracking with Sentinel-1 SAR and high-resolution optical imagery lets analysts estimate LNG terminal throughput without relying on reported trade data. Draught changes, berth occupancy, and vessel class together reveal whether a carrier loaded or discharged.
Spire Global AIS (space-based)Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet Dove optical
Cryogenic liquid hides from cameras. It cannot hide from thermometers.LNG storage tank status from thermal anomaly patterns
Above-ground LNG tanks leave measurable cold signatures in thermal infrared imagery, and their boil-off flares leave bright SWIR traces at night. Together, these signals let analysts infer fill status and operational tempo without setting foot on a terminal.
ECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Landsat 9 TIRSSentinel-2 MSI (SWIR bands)
A plant can shut down its output. It cannot hide its heat.Power-plant operating status from thermal discharge plumes
Thermal infrared satellites detect the warm-water discharge plumes that power stations release into rivers, lakes and coastal waters, revealing whether a plant is generating at any given moment. Landsat 8/9 TIRS and ECOSTRESS resolve the 8–15 °C above-ambient signal at 70–100 m, providing a public, verifiable record of operating status.
Landsat 8 TIRS / Landsat 9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Sentinel-2 MSI
The pile sits in the open. So does the inventory signal.Coal stockpile volumetric estimation at ports and power stations
Tri-stereo optical imagery and X-band SAR digital surface models can resolve coal stockpile volumes to within roughly one metre vertically, making week-on-week inventory changes visible without a single site visit.
Airbus Pléiades Neo (tri-stereo)Maxar WorldView-3 (stereo or tri-stereo)ICEYE X-band SAR
Grain moves fast. Shadows and backscatter move with it.Grain silo and open-stockpile monitoring for commodity intelligence
Satellite optical and SAR data can track grain inventories at silos, port terminals, and open storage pads, giving commodity analysts an independent read on stock levels before official figures are published.
Planet SkySatAirbus Pléiades NeoMaxar WorldView-3
Panels absorb light. That absorption is exactly what gives them away.Utility-scale solar farm construction progress from optical time series
Photovoltaic and CSP projects leave a measurable spectral signature from first ground-break to energisation. Optical time series from Planet, Sentinel-2 and high-resolution tasking turn that signature into weekly construction curves, area estimates and schedule-risk flags.
Planet Dove (PlanetScope)Sentinel-2 MSIMaxar WorldView-3
Turbines go up in clouds. SAR sees through both.Wind farm construction monitoring and turbine installation counting
Offshore wind construction moves fast and often under overcast skies. SAR point-target detection and AIS vessel tracking give independent, cloud-proof counts of installed turbines and installation pace from first monopile to final commissioning.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet SkySat (optical)Airbus Pléiades Neo (optical)
Flares burn at night. Satellites have been watching for decades.Gas flaring volume estimation from nocturnal radiance
VIIRS DNB and SWIR channels can estimate gas flaring volumes at oil fields and refineries globally, providing regulators and investors with independently derived production signals. The World Bank GGFR publishes annual benchmarks using this method.
VIIRS Day-Night Band (DNB)VIIRS M-band SWIR (M10, M11)Landsat 8/9 OLI and TIRS
Vegetation does not file a permit before it grows into a 400 kV line.Transmission-line corridor routing and encroachment detection
Satellite and spaceborne LiDAR data identify least-cost transmission routes before ground teams mobilise, then watch for encroachment continuously. Cloud cover and remote terrain are not excuses when SAR coherence and GEDI canopy heights are in the stack.
NASA GEDI (ISS-mounted full-waveform LiDAR)Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet Dove (PlanetScope)
Tankers rinse their tanks at night. SAR sees the slick anyway.Oil spill and illicit discharge detection at sea and near terminals
Surface oil films dampen short ocean waves, creating dark signatures in SAR imagery that persist through cloud and darkness. Sentinel-1, COSMO-SkyMed and ICEYE make systematic and rapid-response detection operationally viable.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)COSMO-SkyMed X-band SAR (ASI)ICEYE X-band SAR (commercial)
Customs data arrives in weeks. Satellite data arrives overnight.Commodity flow intelligence from port vessel and yard activity
Fusing AIS vessel tracking with optical and SAR imagery of port berths, anchorages, and stockpile yards lets analysts estimate bulk commodity flows before official trade statistics are published. The method is probabilistic and the uncertainty is real, but so is the lead time.
Spire Global AIS (space-based)exactEarth AIS (space-based)Planet Dove (optical)
Refineries cannot hide busyness. Optics can read it.Refinery crude distillation unit feed-rate estimation from optical activity proxies
Crude throughput at atmospheric distillation units leaves visible signatures: vent steam plumes, tank-roof positions, vehicle density. Combining Planet SkySat sub-metre passes with Sentinel-2 time series turns those proxies into a relative feed-rate index, without a single thermal band.
Planet Labs SkySatSentinel-2 MSIAirbus Pléiades Neo
A flare stack cannot hide its heat. Physics obliges.Refinery flare stack combustion state and upset event detection
VIIRS, Sentinel-3 SLSTR and TROPOMI together reveal flare ignition, intensity shifts and extinction events at refineries, flagging process upsets and emergency depressurisations without a single site visit.
VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB)VIIRS SWIR bands (M10, M11, I4, I5)Sentinel-3 SLSTR
Dozens of shadows, one inventory signal. The maths is unforgiving.Crude oil tank farm aggregate inventory change from multi-tank shadow analysis
Aggregating shadow-derived fill levels across a tank farm converts noisy single-tank geometry into a site-level inventory estimate. This page explains the statistics, the SAR fallback when cloud blocks optical sensors, and the physical ambiguity that caps accuracy.
Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySatCapella Space SAR-X
Stockpiles shift overnight. SAR catches the geometry before the ship loads.Iron ore and bauxite stockpile volumetrics from SAR-derived digital surface models
SAR interferometry can resolve the surface of an ore or bauxite stockpile to sub-metre vertical accuracy, letting analysts compute volume change between any two acquisition dates. Converting that volume to mass requires honest accounting of bulk density, moisture, and pile-shape assumptions.
TanDEM-X (bistatic X-band SAR pair)COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (X-band SAR)ICEYE SAR constellation (X-band)
Cryogenic equipment leaves a cold fingerprint. Physics does not lie.LNG liquefaction train operating status from thermal infrared signatures
Operating LNG liquefaction trains chill surrounding structures to detectable sub-ambient temperatures. Landsat 8/9 TIRS and ECOSTRESS can distinguish active from standby trains and flag maintenance outages at facilities with physically separated train layouts.
Landsat 8 TIRSLandsat 9 TIRS-2ECOSTRESS
Sediment moves. SAR sees what acoustic surveys miss between visits.Subsea pipeline seabed exposure and free-span detection from SAR backscatter
In shallow water, a pipeline lifted clear of the seabed by scour returns a distinctive double-bounce SAR signal. Sentinel-1 and high-resolution commercial X-band data can map these free spans at scale, prioritising where inspection vessels go first.
Sentinel-1 (C-band SAR, ESA)ICEYE X-band SAR constellationCapella Space X-band SAR
The digger leaves a scar. The satellite remembers the baseline.Third-party encroachment and illegal tap detection along onshore pipeline rights-of-way
Unauthorised construction, agricultural encroachment, and illegal hot-tapping along pipeline rights-of-way are detectable from orbit using high-resolution optical change detection and hydrocarbon-induced vegetation stress signals. Detection latency and cloud cover impose real limits that any honest programme must plan around.
Planet PlanetScopeAirbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
The plume is present or it is not. That binary hides a capacity factor.Power plant capacity factor estimation from cooling tower plume frequency analysis
Wet cooling towers emit visible condensate plumes only when a plant is generating heat. Counting plume-present scenes across a Sentinel-2 or Planet time series produces a statistically grounded capacity-factor proxy, provided ambient temperature and humidity corrections are applied.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet PlanetScopeLandsat 8/9 OLI
A defective cell cannot hide its heat, but satellites have limitsSolar panel hotspot and degradation mapping from airborne and satellite thermal infrared
Thermal infrared sensors detect the excess heat that faulty photovoltaic cells radiate, but satellite resolution sets a hard ceiling on what can be diagnosed remotely. This page explains where ECOSTRESS, Landsat 9 TIRS, and airborne sensors each earn their place.
ECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Landsat 9 TIRSSentinel-3 SLSTR
Turbines steal wind from each other. SAR shows exactly how far.Wind farm wake effect mapping from SAR-derived surface wind fields
Synthetic aperture radar backscatter from the sea surface, inverted through the CMOD geophysical model function, produces wind speed maps at roughly 500-metre resolution. Those maps reveal the wind speed deficits that offshore turbines impose on one another and on neighbouring planned developments.
Sentinel-1 A/B (C-band SAR, ESA)RADARSAT-2 (C-band SAR, MDA)ICEYE SAR constellation (X-band)
Platforms cannot hide. Their supply boats, flares and deck lights talk.Offshore oil and gas platform production status from optical and SAR activity signals
Combining Sentinel-1 SAR vessel detection, VIIRS night-band flare radiance, and high-resolution optical imagery lets analysts classify offshore platforms as producing, on standby, or decommissioned, and flag unannounced curtailments before they appear in official statistics.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)VIIRS Day/Night Band (Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20)Planet SkySat
Ash ponds grow quietly. Satellites notice before inspectors arrive.Coal ash pond expansion and structural change monitoring
Fly ash impoundments expand, shift and occasionally fail with little surface warning. Sentinel-1 SAR coherence and Sentinel-2 optical time series can track pond boundary changes, new dyke construction and surface moisture anomalies that warrant geotechnical follow-up.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)Landsat 8/9 OLI (USGS/NASA)
The turbine sees head pressure. The satellite sees the surface.Hydropower reservoir water level and storage estimation from satellite altimetry
Satellite altimetry from ICESat-2, Sentinel-6, SWOT and Sentinel-3 measures reservoir surface elevation to within centimetres, converting to storage volume via area-elevation curves. Coverage is geometry-dependent: not every reservoir is tractable.
ICESat-2 ATLAS (NASA)Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (ESA/EUMETSAT/Copernicus)SWOT KaRIn (NASA/CNES)
The ground is warm. The question is whether the Earth or the sun is responsible.Geothermal surface heat flux mapping for resource prospecting and plant monitoring
Active geothermal fields produce land-surface temperature anomalies detectable from orbit, but separating crustal heat from solar heating requires careful emissivity correction and multi-temporal analysis. This page explains the physics, the sensors, and the honest limits of what a 90-metre pixel can and cannot resolve.
Landsat 9 TIRSASTER TIRECOSTRESS
Battery blocks are small. The grid transition is not.Grid-scale battery storage facility construction and commissioning tracking
Utility-scale battery storage sites are compact and fast-built, making them easy to miss in coarse imagery. Very-high-resolution optical tasking from Planet SkySat and Airbus Pléiades Neo can track container installation, transformer pads, and grid connection works at the site level.
Planet SkySatAirbus Pléiades NeoPlanet PlanetScope
Smelters can idle their workforce. They cannot idle their chemistry.Metal smelter operating status from sulphur dioxide column density
Copper, nickel, and lead smelters emit SO₂ in direct proportion to throughput. Sentinel-5P TROPOMI resolves sulphur dioxide columns at 3.5 km pixels, enough to attribute emissions to individual large facilities and detect curtailments, strikes, or ramp-ups within days.
Sentinel-5P TROPOMINASA/JAXA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)Sentinel-3 OLCI
Stacks can be idle or roaring. TROPOMI notices either.Industrial zone economic activity proxies from tropospheric nitrogen dioxide columns
Tropospheric NO2 columns from Sentinel-5P TROPOMI change measurably when combustion-intensive industry ramps up or shuts down. Weekly averaging turns a noisy atmospheric signal into a usable relative activity index for petrochemical complexes, steel mills and cement plants.
Sentinel-5P TROPOMIAura OMIGEMS (Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer)
AIS says where a ship is. SAR says whether it is full.LNG carrier laden versus ballast state discrimination from SAR freeboard geometry
High-resolution spotlight SAR can classify LNG carriers as laden or ballast by measuring freeboard geometry against hull markings, enabling cargo flow inference that bypasses AIS declarations entirely.
ICEYE X-band SAR (spotlight mode)Capella Space SAR-X (spotlight mode)COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (spotlight mode)
Furnaces running at 850 °C are not subtle about it.Ethylene cracker furnace operating status from thermal infrared signatures
Steam cracker furnaces produce thermal anomalies strong enough to saturate standard TIR detectors. Landsat TIRS, ECOSTRESS and Sentinel-3 SLSTR let analysts track operating state, decoking cycles and unplanned shutdowns from orbit.
Landsat 9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Sentinel-3 SLSTR
A tanker's waterline tells you what its manifest may not.Crude tanker cargo volume estimation from waterline draft
High-resolution optical and SAR imagery can infer crude cargo load by measuring freeboard against published draft-displacement tables for known tanker classes, cross-referenced with AIS vessel identity. Accuracy depends on class identification and is honest about intermediate-load ambiguity.
Pléiades NeoWorldView-3Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, 5.405 GHz)
Refineries report what they choose. Stacks report everything.Refinery throughput proxies from stack SO₂ and NOₓ column density
TROPOMI measures tropospheric SO₂ and NOₓ columns at daily global coverage. Because distillation furnace firing rates scale with crude throughput, those columns are a working proxy for refinery feed rates, independent of company disclosures.
Sentinel-5P TROPOMISentinel-5 (pre-operational)ERA5 wind reanalysis (ECMWF)
Drums switch every 16 hours. Satellites notice.Delayed coking unit cycle detection from thermal infrared periodicity
Paired coke drums at heavy-oil upgraders run a heat-and-quench cycle that leaves a measurable thermal signature in LWIR imagery. Time-series stacking of Landsat and ECOSTRESS night acquisitions can distinguish drum-on from drum-off states and estimate how many coking units are running.
Landsat 8/9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)VIIRS Day-Night Band (DNB)
Petcoke is black, dense and worth tracking. Physics obliges.Petroleum coke stockpile volumetric estimation at refinery and export terminals
Stereo optical and SAR-derived digital surface models let buyers, traders and regulators measure petroleum coke stockpile volumes at refinery yards and export terminals without setting foot on site. Honest limits apply: pile-shape assumptions, moisture and compaction all introduce uncertainty that must be declared.
Pléiades Neo stereoWorldView-3 stereoTanDEM-X
Turbines shed heat they cannot hide, even at 100 metres per pixelGas compressor station operating state from thermal infrared signatures
Gas compressor stations betray their operating state through waste-heat signatures detectable in longwave infrared imagery. Landsat 8/9 TIRS and ECOSTRESS resolve the thermal anomalies, but spatial resolution and co-located infrastructure demand careful multi-temporal analysis.
Landsat 8/9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Sentinel-3 SLSTR
An FPSO points where physics tells it to. That is the signal.FPSO vessel heading and mooring status from SAR geometry
SAR imagery reveals FPSO heading and mooring geometry with enough precision to distinguish production, shutdown, and offloading events. Cross-validated against AIS, it gives commodity analysts a persistent watch on units that report selectively.
Sentinel-1 A/B SAR (C-band, 5.4 GHz)ICEYE SAR constellation (X-band, ~9.65 GHz)KOMPSAT-5 SAR (X-band)
Potlines run at 950 °C. Curtailments cannot hide that heat.Aluminium smelter potline operating status from thermal infrared
Each electrolytic reduction line in an aluminium smelter radiates a distinct thermal signature detectable from orbit. Landsat, ECOSTRESS and VIIRS night passes let analysts count active potlines, distinguish partial curtailments from full shutdowns, and track output capacity changes weeks before official data.
Landsat 8/9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Sentinel-3 SLSTR
Trees grow quietly. Flashovers do not.Vegetation encroachment on transmission-line corridors from canopy height models
Spaceborne lidar and multispectral time series can quantify how fast canopy is closing on transmission-line clearance zones, giving asset managers an evidence base before a fault, not after.
GEDI (ISS spaceborne lidar)Sentinel-2 MSIAirborne discrete-return lidar
Pump motors cannot hide their heat. Lights cannot hide their glow.Crude pipeline pump station activity from ancillary electrical and thermal proxies
Crude pipeline pump stations leave two detectable signatures from orbit: waste heat from motor housings and facility lighting during operations. Combining VIIRS night-time radiance with LWIR thermal anomaly detection can flag abrupt start-stop events, though neither signal alone confirms throughput.
VIIRS Day-Night Band (DNB)Landsat 8/9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)
Reanalysis smooths the coast. SAR does not.Offshore and coastal wind resource prospecting from SAR wind-speed climatology
C-band SAR backscatter converted via CMOD5.n resolves coastal wind features that ERA5 and mesoscale models miss, giving developers a decade-long wind-speed record at 500 m resolution before a met mast goes in.
Sentinel-1 A/B (C-band SAR, IW and EW modes)Radarsat-2 (C-band SAR)ASCAT scatterometer (MetOp-A/B/C, C-band)