Financial intelligence and insurance
Alternative data with a paper trail.
The harvest is months away. The signal is already in the canopy.Crop yield nowcasting from multispectral imagery
Multispectral satellites can estimate in-season crop biomass and forecast end-of-season yield weeks before harvest, using vegetation indices tied to chlorophyll and leaf-area physics. This page explains the method, its resolution and cloud-cover limits, and why latency is the critical variable for commodity-price analytics.
Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)Planet SuperDoveLandsat 8/9 OLI (USGS/NASA)
Declared tonnage is a number. Shadow geometry is physics.Grain silo and bulk-storage inventory estimation by SAR
Synthetic aperture radar can estimate the volume of grain stockpiles and covered silos through cloud cover, day or night, giving commodity traders and lenders an independent physical check on declared inventory.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)ICEYE X-band SARCapella Space X-band SAR
Manifests lie. Waterlines do not.Crude oil tanker cargo estimation from vessel draught and AIS
Fusing AIS position data with very-high-resolution optical and SAR imagery lets analysts estimate vessel draught and infer crude oil, LNG, or dry-bulk cargo loads independent of reported manifests. The physics is simple; the execution requires honest accounting of resolution limits, spoofing risk, and hull-class uncertainty.
Planet SkySatCapella Space SARSpire AIS
Refineries report what they choose. Flares do not lie.Petroleum refinery throughput monitoring by thermal infrared
Thermal infrared and shortwave infrared satellites detect heat from distillation units, flare stacks and cooling towers, providing an independent proxy for refinery operating rate that does not depend on operator disclosure.
VIIRS DNB / M-band (Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21)Landsat 8 / 9 TIRSSentinel-3 SLSTR
Ships turn off their transponders. They cannot turn off physics.Dark vessel detection for commodity sanctions compliance
SAR radar detects vessels regardless of whether their AIS transponders are broadcasting. Cross-referencing SAR detections against AIS gaps exposes ships conducting dark voyages during sanctioned oil and grain transfers.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)ICEYE X-band SARCapella Space X-band SAR
Governments can falsify GDP figures. They cannot turn off their cities.Sovereign economic activity monitoring from night-light radiance
VIIRS Day/Night Band radiance time series offer a politically independent, near-real-time proxy for economic output, electrification and urban activity, filling the gap where official statistics are delayed, suppressed or simply wrong.
VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB)DMSP-OLS (legacy archive)Luojia-1
Water retreats in days. Disputes over payouts last years.Parametric flood insurance trigger verification by SAR inundation mapping
SAR backscatter change detection maps flood extent objectively and near-real-time, giving parametric insurers a physics-based trigger that removes the adjuster from the critical path. This page covers the method, its honest limits, and the sensor options available today.
Sentinel-1 A/B (C-band SAR, ESA)ICEYE X-band SAR constellationCapella Space X-band SAR
Rain gauges lie by absence. Satellites see every field.Satellite vegetation index triggers for drought index insurance
Parametric drought insurance can pay out without loss adjustment, but only if the trigger index actually tracks crop stress. Satellite vegetation indices offer spatially continuous drought signals where rain gauges are absent, at the cost of residual basis risk when canopy condition diverges from root-zone moisture.
MODIS Terra/AquaVIIRS VNP09 (Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20)Sentinel-2 MSI
A field adjuster cannot visit ten thousand hectares in a week. A satellite can.Crop insurance loss adjustment using post-event multispectral change detection
Pre- and post-event multispectral imagery quantifies crop damage extent and severity for indemnity loss adjustment, cutting settlement time and adjuster cost while providing an auditable spatial record.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveLandsat 8/9 OLI
Borrowers report progress. Satellites verify it.Construction progress verification for project-finance lenders
Independent, periodic satellite imagery gives project-finance lenders physical evidence of construction progress before each drawdown, without relying on the borrower's own reporting. Very-high-resolution optical and SAR time series can track excavation volume, structural footprint growth, and equipment presence at sites worldwide.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Reported tonnages are words. Stockpile geometry is arithmetic.Mining output estimation from ore stockpile volume change
Repeat stereo imagery and SAR height models let analysts measure net material movement at open-pit mines independently of operator reporting, giving commodity desks and project lenders a physical cross-check on declared production.
Airbus Pléiades NeoMaxar WorldView-3Planet SkySat
Companies sign no-deforestation pledges. The canopy either stands or it does not.ESG deforestation claim verification in agricultural supply chains
Satellite SAR and optical time-series can independently verify whether forest cover in commodity sourcing areas has been removed, and when. This page explains the physics, the resolution limits, and the attribution gap that no sensor alone can close.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)Landsat 8/9 OLI (USGS/NASA)
Adjusters cannot reach the site. Satellites already have.Post-catastrophe building damage grading for insurance claims triage
SAR coherence loss and very-high-resolution optical change detection let insurers grade building damage and estimate aggregate loss within hours of a catastrophe, before ground teams can enter the affected area.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoSentinel-1 SAR (C-band)
A prospectus says the factory exists. The satellite checks.Pre-IPO physical asset verification from satellite imagery
Satellite imagery lets analysts independently verify whether declared factories, warehouses and land holdings exist, match their stated scale, and show signs of genuine operation before an equity listing or acquisition closes.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
The pile is visible. Its height, until now, was not.Coal stockpile volume estimation from optical stereo imagery
Tri-stereo and along-track stereo optical imagery can reconstruct coal stockpile volumes to within a few percent under clear skies, giving commodity traders, insurers and lenders an independent tonnage check without setting foot on site.
Pleiades Neo (Airbus)WorldView-3 (Maxar)SPOT 6/7 (Airbus)
Furnaces cannot hide. Infrared sees every tap cycle.Steel mill production activity monitoring by thermal anomaly detection
Active blast furnaces and electric-arc furnaces produce intense, spatially compact thermal anomalies detectable in shortwave and mid-wave infrared bands. Satellite sensors from Landsat to VIIRS can track operational status and relative throughput, giving commodity analysts and insurers an independent production signal.
Landsat 8/9 TIRSASTER TIRVIIRS I4 / I5 bands
Ports publish headline figures. Satellites count the boxes.Container port throughput estimation from stacked-box counting
Very-high-resolution optical imagery lets analysts count ISO containers on quaysides and in storage yards, then combine those counts with AIS vessel-call data to estimate weekly or monthly throughput without relying on port authority disclosures.
WorldView-2 / WorldView-3 (Maxar)Pleiades 1A / 1B (Airbus)Planet SuperDove
Cloud hides the crop. Radar does not care about cloud.Soybean planted-area mapping by SAR and optical data fusion
South American and Asian soybean seasons coincide with persistent cloud cover that breaks optical-only mapping. Fusing Sentinel-1 SAR backscatter with Sentinel-2 vegetation indices produces planted-area estimates that commodity desks and crop insurers can actually trust.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)MODIS Terra/Aqua
Mills report what they choose. Radar sees what they store.Palm oil mill throughput estimation from SAR-detected fresh fruit bunch stockpiles
C-band SAR backscatter distinguishes fresh fruit bunch heaps from bare yard surfaces, letting analysts track stockpile extent across repeat passes and infer crude palm oil throughput without setting foot on site.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)COSMO-SkyMed (ASI)ICEYE SAR constellation
Vessels go dark on AIS. They cannot go dark on radar.Fishing fleet activity monitoring for fisheries-bond and quota compliance
SAR satellites detect fishing vessels regardless of whether their transponders are switched on. Correlating radar detections with AIS and VMS records identifies dark fishing activity, giving bond issuers and ESG auditors an independent, physics-based view of quota compliance.
Sentinel-1 (ESA)RADARSAT-2 (MDA)ICEYE SAR constellation
Airlines move aircraft. Parked ones tell you what is really flying.Airport aircraft parking count as aviation-demand indicator
Very-high-resolution optical imagery lets analysts count and classify parked commercial aircraft at major airports daily, producing a ground-truth proxy for capacity utilisation that balance sheets and load-factor disclosures cannot fake.
Planet SkySatMaxar WorldView-2 / WorldView-3Airbus Pleiades Neo
Shoppers leave their phones at home. They rarely leave their cars.Retail footfall estimation from car-park occupancy in satellite imagery
Very-high-resolution optical satellites count vehicles in retail car parks to produce footfall proxies for equity analysts and insurers, without relying on mobile-location data. Occupancy time series reveal trading patterns, seasonal peaks and competitor shocks with honest limits around cloud, revisit and multi-storey structures.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pleiades NeoPlanet SkySat
The roof tells you what the manifest will not.Crude oil storage volume estimation from floating-roof tank shadow geometry
Floating-roof tanks cast a shadow whose length encodes fill level. High-resolution optical satellites measure that shadow, turning sun geometry into inventory intelligence for traders, insurers and sovereign monitors.
Maxar WorldView-2 / WorldView-3Airbus Pleiades 1A / 1BPlanet SkySat
Flares burn at night. VIIRS reads the bill.Natural gas flaring volume estimation for royalty and carbon-liability assessment
Satellite radiance from VIIRS and Landsat converts flare brightness into gas-volume estimates precise enough to audit royalty payments and price carbon liabilities at individual field level.
VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB) and M-band (Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20)Landsat 8/9 OLI and TIRSSentinel-3 SLSTR
Panels are visible from orbit. Claimed megawatts are not.Utility-scale solar farm installed-capacity verification for green-bond audits
Satellite imagery at 30–50 cm resolution can map the physical extent of photovoltaic arrays and convert that area into an independent capacity estimate, giving green-bond auditors a check that requires no site visit and no cooperation from the asset owner.
Pleiades NeoWorldView-3Planet SuperDove
Lenders need turbine counts. Clouds do not care.Offshore wind farm turbine installation progress for project-finance drawdown
SAR and optical satellites track the sequential installation of offshore wind turbines structure by structure, giving project-finance lenders independent milestone verification that does not depend on a developer's own reporting.
Sentinel-1 SAR (ESA)ICEYE SAR constellationPlanet SkySat
Flooded paddies go quiet on radar. Lenders should be listening.Rice paddy flood-calendar mapping for crop-credit exposure assessment
C-band SAR backscatter drops sharply over inundated rice fields, letting analysts reconstruct transplanting calendars and pinpoint which growth stages were underwater when a flood or drought struck.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band SAR (JAXA)RADARSAT-2 C-band SAR (MDA)
The mill sees its catchment. The market does not.Sugarcane harvest progress monitoring for commodity-supply timing
Multispectral time series track the week-by-week spatial advance of sugarcane harvesting across mill supply zones, converting NDVI collapse into raw-sugar supply forecasts before official statistics appear.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveLandsat 8/9 OLI
The canopy looks green. The spectral indices already disagree.Coffee plantation canopy stress detection for crop-loan risk assessment
Red-edge and SWIR reflectance from Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 detect chlorophyll loss and leaf-water deficit in coffee plantations weeks before visible defoliation, giving crop lenders early warning of collateral deterioration.
Sentinel-2 MSIWorldView-3 SWIRPlanet SuperDove
The canopy disappears. The radar coherence does not lie.Illegal timber harvest detection for forest-backed bond collateral verification
SAR coherence loss and optical change detection identify unauthorised clearing within concession boundaries, giving bond trustees and ESG auditors independent, cloud-penetrating evidence of collateral integrity.
ALOS-2 PALSAR-2Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band)Sentinel-2 MSI
Ponds are rectangular. Defaults are not. Lenders should know the difference.Aquaculture farm extent mapping for fisheries-sector credit exposure
Coastal aquaculture ponds have a distinctive spectral and geometric signature detectable from orbit. Mapping their area, fill status and abandonment rate gives lenders and insurers a ground-truth check on fisheries-sector exposure in Southeast Asia and China that no borrower-supplied figure can replicate.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveWorldView-2/3
Satellites cannot weigh a cow, but they can count the grass it lost.Pasture productivity loss estimation for livestock drought insurance
Vegetation index time series from MODIS, Sentinel-2 and Landsat quantify pasture biomass deficits against long-term baselines, providing objective trigger data for index-based livestock insurance products and post-drought indemnity calculations.
MODIS MOD13 / MYD13 (Terra and Aqua)VIIRS VNP13 (Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)
A kiln running at 1450 °C cannot pretend to be idle.Cement plant clinker production monitoring by kiln thermal signature
Rotary cement kilns produce a persistent thermal plume readable by spaceborne infrared sensors. Time-series radiance anomalies reveal kiln-on/off states and partial-load operation, giving lenders and commodity desks an independent production signal.
Landsat 8/9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)VIIRS M-band thermal (M14/M15/M16)
Lenders see a postcode. Satellites see every polytunnel inside it.Protected-horticulture greenhouse area mapping for crop-credit underwriting
Polyethylene and glass greenhouses leave a physically distinct signature in sub-metre optical and X-band SAR imagery. Automated delineation of greenhouse area gives crop-credit underwriters an independent planted-area figure before a single site visit.
Maxar WorldView-3Planet SuperDoveSentinel-1 C-band SAR
The heap grows whether the accounts say so or not.Potash mine tailings pile volume estimation for environmental liability assessment
Repeat-pass SAR and optical stereo photogrammetry track potash tailings pile volume and lateral spread independently of operator reporting, converting elevation-change rates into production proxies and environmental-liability indicators for ESG debt covenants and mine-closure bond sizing.
TanDEM-X (bistatic X-band SAR pair)Sentinel-1 (C-band SAR, ESA)Pleiades / Pleiades Neo (optical stereo)
Containers sit still. That stillness is the signal.Container dwell-time distribution at ports as trade-finance risk indicator
Repeat very-high-resolution optical imagery of container terminals lets analysts track individual stack persistence across successive passes, turning empirical dwell-time distributions into early indicators of port congestion, customs delays and sanctions-related cargo holds that matter directly to trade-finance risk.
Planet SkySatMaxar WorldView LegionAirbus Pléiades Neo
Floodwater retreats. The damage signature it leaves behind does not.Flood-damaged cropland extent mapping for multi-peril crop insurance settlement
Fusing Sentinel-1 SAR backscatter with Sentinel-2 vegetation indices lets loss adjusters delineate flood-affected parcels within days of an event, even when monsoon cloud cover makes optical-only workflows impossible for weeks.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)RADARSAT Constellation Mission (CSA)
Smelters cannot curtail quietly. Infrared sensors notice within hours.Aluminium smelter operational status estimation as electricity-demand and commodity proxy
Aluminium electrolytic cells run at continuous high current and emit a stable thermal signature. Curtailment or shutdown drops that radiance measurably, giving commodity traders and lenders a near-real-time production proxy from VIIRS and Landsat thermal time series.
VIIRS M-band thermal (Suomi NPP / NOAA-20 / NOAA-21)Landsat 8/9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)
Cadastral records freeze. Settlements do not.Informal settlement expansion mapping for mortgage-portfolio and title-risk assessment
Unplanned urban settlements grow faster than any land registry can track, leaving mortgage lenders holding collateral whose legal status is genuinely uncertain. Very-high-resolution optical change detection and SAR coherence can map structure counts, roofing class and construction permanence at the parcel scale.
Maxar WorldView-3Planet SuperDoveSentinel-1 SAR (C-band)
The fire moves in minutes. The exposure report can follow in hours.Wildfire perimeter mapping for real-time insured-asset exposure aggregation
Active wildfire perimeters mapped from VIIRS, GOES-16/17 and Sentinel-2 let insurers intersect a live burn scar with geocoded policy databases before containment, compressing the gap between ignition and reinsurance treaty notification from days to hours.
VIIRS 375 m Active Fire (Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20 / NOAA-21)GOES-16 / GOES-17 / GOES-18 ABISentinel-2 MSI (10–20 m, SWIR bands B11/B12)
Aquifers drain silently. Gravity satellites are not fooled.Groundwater depletion rate estimation for irrigated-agriculture credit-risk assessment
GRACE and GRACE-FO measure basin-scale groundwater loss that no surface sensor can see. Combined with SMAP soil-moisture and Sentinel-2 irrigated-area mapping, the result is a long-run yield-risk signal for lenders exposed to aquifer-dependent farming.
GRACE-FO gravimetry (JPL/GFZ)SMAP L-band radiometer (NASA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA Copernicus)
Customs data arrives weeks late. Truck queues do not wait.Land border crossing vehicle traffic as bilateral trade-flow and sovereign-risk indicator
Very-high-resolution optical imagery over land border crossings turns vehicle queues and truck counts into a physical proxy for bilateral trade volumes, sanctions compliance and sovereign economic stress, updated far faster than official customs statistics.
Planet SkySatMaxar WorldView LegionAirbus Pléiades Neo