TRACKING VOLUME CHANGE OF THE BULK COMMODITIES WITH INTERFEROMETRIC SAR

Abstract

Bulk commodities are crucial to global economy and modern society. Some commodities, such as grain, are normally stored in cylindrical tanks. The height of the tank’s roof may be correlated to the substance quantity inside the tank, indicating that roof displacement may be associated with the volume of the bulk commodities. Here we analyzed the displacements derived from C-band Sentinel-1 data with the vessel tracking Automatic Identification System (AIS) data from a major grain export port - Chornomorsk port in Ukraine. Our results show that displacements of silos’ roof derived from satellite observation are consistent with the discharge quantities estimated from AIS and other data sources. This preliminary investigation suggests the feasibility of integrating InSAR measurements and AIS data to improve the efficiency and accuracy of commodity cargoflow tracking and resource management for the global commodity and shipping industry.