Maritime intelligence
Everything the sea carries, counted.
Ships turn off their transponders. They cannot turn off their radar cross-section.SAR-based vessel detection in open ocean
Synthetic aperture radar detects metal hulls at sea regardless of cloud cover or darkness, using backscatter physics that no vessel operator can suppress. This page explains how CFAR algorithms, sensor geometry, and sea-state interact to determine what gets found and what does not.
Sentinel-1 (ESA, Copernicus)ICEYE (commercial constellation)Capella Space (commercial)
Ships turn off their transponders. They cannot turn off physics.AIS correlation and dark-ship detection
Cross-referencing SAR-detected vessel positions against spaceborne AIS records exposes ships that have gone deliberately dark. This page explains the physics, the method, and the honest limits of each data layer.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)ICEYE SAR (X-band, commercial)Spire Global spaceborne AIS
A vessel can silence its AIS. It cannot silence its radar.RF emissions fingerprinting of vessels at sea
Signals-intelligence satellites in LEO detect and geolocate non-AIS radio-frequency emissions from vessels, exposing ships that deliberately hide. This page explains the physics, the geolocation maths, and the honest limits of the method.
HawkEye 360 Cluster Satellites (HE360)Kleos Space RF Reconnaissance ConstellationSpire Global GNSS Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) Satellites
A vessel's silhouette tells the truth its transponder omits.Optical vessel classification by hull type
Very-high-resolution optical satellites can distinguish tankers from bulk carriers, container ships, fishing vessels, and naval craft by hull geometry and deck profile. Classification accuracy depends critically on achieving sub-1-metre ground sampling distance and clear skies.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Two ships meet in open water. Only one story gets told.Ship-to-ship transfer monitoring for sanctions evasion
Ship-to-ship transfers obscure cargo origin by moving oil between vessels beyond port jurisdiction. SAR imagery and spaceborne AIS together expose the rendezvous that AIS manipulation tries to hide.
Sentinel-1 SAR (ESA/Copernicus)ICEYE SAR constellationCapella Space SAR
Vessels go dark. Their wakes, Doppler shifts and deck lights do not.IUU fishing detection inside exclusive economic zones
Combining SAR dark-vessel detection with spaceborne AIS and VIIRS night-light data lets coastal states identify fishing activity inside their EEZs that never appears in official catch records. Each method has hard limits; used together, they narrow the ambiguity considerably.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)RADARSAT Constellation Mission (C-band, CSA)Spire Global spaceborne AIS
Vessels go dark on AIS. Their lights are visible from orbit.Night-light detection of squid and light-luring fishing fleets
VIIRS Day-Night Band imagery locates squid and light-luring fishing fleets at night by detecting their high-intensity lamps from low Earth orbit, exposing fleets that routinely disable AIS and evade SAR during calm conditions.
VIIRS DNB (Suomi NPP)VIIRS DNB (NOAA-20)Luojia-1
Operators report what suits them. Satellites count what is actually there.Port congestion measurement from anchorage vessel queues
Repeat-pass optical and SAR imagery provides an independent physical count of vessels queuing at anchor outside major ports, giving a congestion signal that leads official throughput statistics by days to weeks.
Planet PlanetScopeESA Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, 5.405 GHz)ESA Sentinel-2 MSI
A vessel at anchor is a commodity signal. Read it.Anchorage dwell-time analysis for commodity flow intelligence
How long a named ship sits in a roadstead reveals loading rates, demand shocks, and supply-chain stress before any price feed catches up. This page explains the sensors, methods, and honest limits of satellite-derived dwell-time analysis.
Planet PlanetScopeAirbus Pléiades NeoESA Sentinel-2 MSI
A laden VLCC sits six metres lower. Satellites notice.Crude oil tanker load-status estimation from freeboard
High-resolution optical and SAR imagery can reveal whether a crude oil tanker is carrying cargo or running empty by measuring the strip of hull visible above the waterline. The method combines known vessel dimensions from public registries with photogrammetric shadow analysis.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Ships pump bilges in the dark. SAR sees the morning after.Oil slick and illegal bilge-dump detection using SAR
Synthetic aperture radar detects oil on the sea surface by the way it kills capillary waves, creating a dark patch against surrounding rougher water. This page explains the physics, the false-alarm problem, and how Sentinel-1 makes coastal enforcement operationally viable.
Sentinel-1 (ESA)RADARSAT Constellation Mission (CSA)Capella Space (commercial)
A vessel can silence its transponder. Its wake cannot lie.Vessel wake analysis for speed and heading reconstruction
High-resolution SAR and optical imagery preserve the geometry of a vessel's Kelvin wake long after the ship has moved on, allowing analysts to reconstruct speed, heading, and manoeuvre history independent of AIS. Resolution better than 3 m GSD is the practical threshold for reliable extraction.
Capella Space SAR (X-band)ICEYE SAR (X-band)Maxar WorldView-3 (optical, panchromatic)
AIS counts ships that want to be counted. SAR counts the rest.Sea-lane traffic density mapping from multi-source detections
Aggregating spaceborne AIS and SAR detections over weeks or months reveals route-level traffic density, vessel-type mix, and seasonal shifts that no single-pass product can show. AIS-only maps systematically undercount traffic where transponder use is low or deliberately suppressed.
Spire Global spaceborne AISexactEarth spaceborne AISSentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)
Vessels go dark on AIS. They cannot stop moving through radar.SAR Doppler anomaly measurement for vessel velocity
Synthetic aperture radar encodes a moving vessel's radial velocity as a measurable image displacement. This page explains the physics, the geometry, the numbers, and where the method breaks down.
Sentinel-1 (ESA)RADARSAT Constellation Mission (CSA)ICEYE SAR (commercial)
A warship in port cannot hide its pennant number from orbit.Naval vessel monitoring in foreign ports and anchorages
High-resolution optical and SAR satellites can identify individual naval vessels by hull class, pennant number, and equipment configuration. This page explains what is detectable, at what resolution, and where the method breaks down.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoCapella Space SAR (X-band)
A ship can lie about where it is. Physics cannot.GNSS spoofing anomaly detection for vessel position integrity
AIS-broadcast positions can be fabricated or spoofed at the transmitter. Cross-referencing them against SAR detections, spaceborne AIS, and GNSS-RO data exposes discrepancies that self-reported transponders cannot hide.
Sentinel-1 SAR (ESA Copernicus)Spire Global spaceborne AISSpire Global GNSS Radio Occultation
The sea moves. Knowing how fast and where decides who survives.Satellite support for search and rescue drift prediction
When a vessel or person goes missing at sea, drift models define the search area. Satellite-derived currents, wind fields, wave height, and spaceborne AIS last-known-position data can sharpen those models and then directly image the probability zones.
Spire Global spaceborne AISSentinel-1 SAR (C-band, 5.405 GHz)Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) altimetry products
A tanker at anchor for ten days is not resting. It is hiding barrels.Floating storage tanker inventory tracking for oil markets
Extended anchorage dwell times combined with laden freeboard signatures let satellite analysts estimate crude oil volumes held off-market in floating storage. Aggregated globally, the metric is an independent leading indicator for supply dynamics that no price feed or shipping report can replicate.
Planet PlanetScopeMaxar WorldView-3Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)
A snorkel mast is two square metres. The ocean is not.Submarine snorkel mast and periscope detection using SAR
High-resolution spotlight SAR can detect the faint radar returns of submarine snorkel masts and periscopes, but sea clutter at moderate sea states makes discrimination genuinely hard. This page explains the physics, the processing chain, and the honest limits of what satellite SAR can and cannot do.
Capella Space SAR (X-band)ICEYE SAR (X-band)RADARSAT Constellation Mission (C-band)
Two vessels meet at sea. The record should outlast the dispute.Vessel-to-vessel proximity event logging for insurance and liability
Spaceborne AIS and SAR together produce an auditable log of close-approach events between vessels, giving insurers and liability investigators a time-stamped, position-referenced record that shore-based systems routinely miss.
Spire Global spaceborne AISexactEarth spaceborne AISSentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)
A vessel can lie about its position. Its wake cannot.AIS Location Fabrication and Spoofing Detection
Vessels transmitting false AIS positions can be exposed by cross-referencing declared coordinates against independent SAR detections, optical imagery and Doppler-derived velocities. Where the physics disagrees with the broadcast, the broadcast is wrong.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet SuperDove optical (3 m, 8-band)Spire spaceborne AIS
A vessel can change its flag. Its hull paint cannot lie as quickly.Flag-State Anomaly Detection for Sanctions Screening
Reflagging is the oldest trick in sanctions evasion. Correlating IMO registry records, spaceborne AIS, port-call history and high-resolution optical imagery of hull markings exposes the gaps between what a ship declares and what physics reveals.
Maxar WorldView-3Planet SkySatSentinel-2 MSI
Paint dries fast. Satellite archives do not forget.Tanker Hull Marking and Name-Change Detection
Very-high-resolution optical imagery at sub-metre GSD can resolve painted characters on tanker transoms and hull sides, making name and IMO-number changes detectable across multi-date image stacks. This page explains which sensors do the work, what they can and cannot read, and how change detection is applied.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pleiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Vessels move. Preferred dark spots do not.Ship-to-Ship Transfer Location Pattern Analysis
Recurring ship-to-ship transfer zones betray themselves through spatial clustering, even when individual events are missed. Density mapping of SAR detections and AIS gap logs turns scattered incidents into actionable patrol polygons.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Spire spaceborne AISICEYE SAR (X-band)
A trawler cannot hide its drag pattern. Physics keeps the record.Fishing Vessel Gear-Type Classification from SAR and Optical
SAR movement signatures and sub-metre optical imagery together distinguish trawlers, longliners, purse-seiners and pot vessels with enough specificity to support quota enforcement and IUU prosecution. Neither sensor alone is sufficient; the combination is.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Maxar WorldView-3
FADs vanish from paper; ocean currents and satellites remember where they went.Fish Aggregating Device Detection and Drift Tracking
Drifting fish aggregating devices concentrate tuna but evade routine monitoring. Optical satellites and spaceborne AIS can detect, identify and track dFADs across EEZs, exposing fishing effort that never appears in catch records.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet DoveNOAA VIIRS (SNPP and NOAA-20)
A vessel can switch off its transponder. It cannot switch off its behaviour.Vessel Loitering Pattern Detection for Maritime Smuggling
Low-speed loitering and repeated course reversals in open water are behavioural signatures of contraband transfer. Trajectory anomaly scoring on AIS tracks, confirmed by SAR when transponders go dark, gives maritime authorities a defensible, satellite-sourced evidence trail.
Spire Global spaceborne AISexactEarth satellite AISSentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)
A storm passes in hours. Knowing what it destroyed takes minutes.Port Infrastructure Damage Assessment from Optical and SAR
Pre- and post-event SAR coherence analysis and optical image differencing reveal structural damage to quays, cranes, warehouses and breakwaters regardless of cloud cover, answering the operational question: can this port physically function?
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Maxar WorldView-3 opticalAirbus Pleiades Neo optical
Iron ore moves. The waterline tells you how much.Dry Bulk Carrier Load Estimation from Freeboard Measurement
Sub-metre optical satellites can read a bulk carrier's Plimsoll markings and freeboard height to estimate cargo load, giving commodity analysts a cross-check on declared manifests for iron ore, coal and grain flows.
Airbus Pleiades NeoMaxar WorldView-3Planet SkySat
The deck tells you half the story. Half is still useful.Container Ship Stack Height and Utilisation Estimation
High-resolution optical imagery from WorldView-3 and Pleiades Neo can resolve individual container tiers above the hatch coaming, giving a visible proxy for vessel utilisation. Below-deck stowage is invisible to any optical sensor, so estimates are partial by definition.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pleiades NeoPlanet SkySat
A car carrier's waterline tells you what the manifest won't.Ro-Ro and Vehicle Carrier Deck Load Monitoring
Satellite imagery can read the loading state of roll-on/roll-off and pure car carriers from freeboard depth and visible deck density, giving automotive supply-chain analysts and sanctions investigators an independent check on declared cargo.
Airbus Pleiades NeoPlanet SkySatMaxar WorldView-3
A supply vessel visit is a production signal. Count them.Offshore Platform Supply Vessel Activity Monitoring
SAR imagery and spaceborne AIS together reveal how often platform supply vessels call at offshore installations, exposing production tempo, maintenance cycles and potential sanctions violations where AIS goes dark.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)ICEYE SAR (X-band, commercial)Spire spaceborne AIS
Wind turbines block radar. Vessels exploit the gaps.Vessel Traffic Conflict Mapping in Offshore Wind Farm Zones
Offshore wind arrays create radar shadow zones and choke points that concentrate vessel conflict risk. SAR-AIS fusion maps who is actually present, not just who is broadcasting.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)exactEarth satellite AISPlanet SuperDove (PlanetScope)
Polar darkness hides nothing from radar that reads ice and hulls alike.Arctic Vessel Routing and Ice-Condition Surveillance
SAR satellites track vessels and ice conditions simultaneously across the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage, where cloud cover and polar night make optical sensors nearly useless. Correlating Sentinel-1 imagery with spaceborne AIS exposes both route accessibility and unauthorised transits through sovereign Arctic waters.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)RADARSAT-2 (C-band, MDA)Spire spaceborne AIS
A vessel can switch off its AIS. It cannot move the reef it scarred.Vessel Anchoring Detection in Marine Protected Areas
SAR and very-high-resolution optical imagery can identify vessels anchoring illegally inside MPAs and detect the linear scars anchor chains leave on shallow reef surfaces, giving enforcement agencies evidence that persists long after the vessel has left.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Maxar WorldView-3 (optical/SWIR)Planet SuperDove (optical)
The fleet is tiny. Every slow, straight transit tells a story.Subsea Cable-Lay and Repair Ship Activity Monitoring
Fewer than 60 purpose-built cable-lay and repair vessels operate globally, making individual ship movements strategically significant. Satellite SAR, spaceborne AIS and high-resolution optical combine to track where these vessels go, how fast, and whether their behaviour matches any declared cable route.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Spire spaceborne AISexactEarth spaceborne AIS
A dredger moves slowly. Its plume moves for hours after it stops.Dredging Vessel Activity and Sediment Plume Detection
Active dredging leaves two signatures: a vessel crawling at 1–3 knots and a turbid sediment plume visible in multispectral imagery. Combining SAR vessel detection, AIS kinematics and optical water-quality analysis lets analysts distinguish permitted harbour works from covert land reclamation or illegal seabed extraction.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat-9 OLISentinel-1 SAR (C-band)
Ships can switch off their AIS. They cannot stop burning fuel.Vessel Exhaust Plume Monitoring for Sulphur Compliance
Satellite SO2 and aerosol sensors can detect sulphur-rich exhaust plumes from shipping corridors, giving port-state authorities and charterers an independent check on IMO 2020 compliance. Detection is real but attribution to a single hull requires corroborating data.
Sentinel-5P TROPOMIPlanet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Sentinel-2 MSI
A ship can silence its AIS. It cannot silence its wake chemistry.Ballast Water Discharge and Turbidity Plume Detection
Ballast discharge plumes alter water-leaving radiance in ways multispectral and hyperspectral sensors can measure. Cross-referencing plume geometry with AIS tracks attributes events to specific vessels, giving port authorities satellite-grade evidence.
Sentinel-2 MSIPACE OCI (Ocean Color Instrument)Landsat 9 OLI-2
Small boats carry no transponders. SAR and RF still find them.Piracy Risk Assessment from Vessel Convergence Patterns
Piracy staging relies on craft that are invisible to AIS. SAR imagery and RF-geolocation data can reveal convergence patterns that AIS alone cannot, though resolution limits and revisit gaps mean satellite data informs risk assessment rather than replacing real-time response.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)ICEYE SAR (X-band, commercial)HawkEye 360 RF geolocation
A hull shrinks by metres each week. Satellites can measure that.Ship-Breaking and Beaching Activity Monitoring at Scrapping Yards
Time-series optical and SAR imagery tracks vessel arrivals, beaching events, and progressive dismantlement at South Asian ship-recycling yards, where hull length and radar cross-section change measurably as cutting proceeds over weeks to months.
Maxar WorldView LegionAirbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Cages don't move. The boats servicing them tell the real story.Aquaculture Farm Vessel Activity and Harvest Cycle Mapping
Sentinel-1 SAR resolves cage arrays and service vessels through cloud and darkness; water-quality time series from Sentinel-2 and Planet Dove expose feeding pulses and harvest events. Together they let regulators and investors read harvest cycles that operators never formally report.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)Planet Dove (PlanetScope)
Liquid gas at −163 °C leaves a mark physics cannot hide.LNG Carrier Thermal Signature Analysis for Cargo State Estimation
Spaceborne thermal infrared sensors can detect the cold-surface emissivity signature of cryogenic LNG cargo tanks, offering a probabilistic estimate of carrier load state when optical freeboard and AIS data are absent or unreliable.
Landsat 9 TIRS-2ECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)ASTER TIR
The ships moved. The physics stayed. Satellites recorded both.Vessel Collision and Allision Incident Reconstruction from Satellite Evidence
Post-incident reconstruction of maritime collisions and allisions using SAR positioning, AIS track replay, wake geometry, and sub-metre optical damage assessment. Covers evidentiary chain-of-custody and the temporal gaps that bound reconstruction precision.
ICEYE SAR constellationSentinel-1 SAR (ESA)Maxar WorldView Legion
Polar night hides nothing from radar, but ice clutter is a serious problem.Polar Research and Resupply Vessel Expedition Tracking
AIS drops out above 70°N. Cloud and darkness eliminate optical cover for months at a time. SAR and satellite-relayed AIS together maintain positional continuity for research icebreakers and resupply ships, but separating vessel returns from pressure-ridge clutter demands more than a threshold.
ICEYE SAR constellationSentinel-1 SAR (ESA)Spire Global AIS (satellite-relayed)
Owners switch off transponders. They cannot repaint the hull overnight.Superyacht and Private Vessel Tracking for Sanctions Enforcement
Sanctioned individuals use superyachts to move assets and circumvent travel bans. Combining AIS gap analysis, sub-metre optical identification, SAR anchorage detection, and RF geolocation closes the gaps that transponder silence is meant to create.
Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySatICEYE SAR (X-band)
No AIS transponder? The river still remembers every hull.Inland Waterway and River Vessel Traffic Monitoring
On the Amazon, Congo, Mekong and Yangtze, most vessels carry no AIS. Very-high-resolution optical and SAR satellites can still count, classify and track them, turning vessel traffic into a proxy for commodity flows, illegal logging supply chains and humanitarian access.
Maxar WorldView LegionAirbus Pléiades NeoESA Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band)