Technology

Machines flag. People decide.

Satellites, machine learning and open-source intelligence watch the Mediterranean around the clock. An analyst confirms every finding before it is reported.

Radar satellite image of a large dark slick near a coastline, with a ship nearby
Slick near the coast · Sentinel-1 SAR · Enhanced with MEPA Clarity

What we can see

Six signals. One watch.

From orbit, from the records and from the shore — one system watches for every kind of harm we pursue.

Oil on the water’s surface

01Radar

Oil slicks and illegal discharges

Oil calms the sea surface, so a slick reads on radar as a dark streak — by day or night, through cloud.

A cargo ship at night trailing a dark plume across calm water
A vessel running dark

02AIS gap analysis

Dark vessels

A ship that switches off its transponder still shows on radar. We work out which ship it is.

03Track analysis

Ship-to-ship transfers

Two vessels meet far from port, lie alongside with transponders off, then part. The pattern stands out.

Satellite view of floating litter gathering in long lines off a river mouth
Floating litter off a river mouth · Sentinel-2 MSI · Enhanced with MEPA Clarity

04Optical imagery

Floating marine litter

After heavy rain, lines of floating debris gather off river mouths. Optical satellites map them.

Household and construction waste dumped in a coastal gully
Waste dumped in a coastal gully

05Change detection

Illegal dumping on the coast

Fresh waste on a beach or in a gully shows up as change between two passes over the same shore.

Volunteers in blue MEPA vests on a beach clean-up
MEPA volunteers on the shore

06Open sources

Citizen and open‑source reports

Photos from the shore, public posts, registries and port records join the same evidence trail.

Machine learning

Signal from noise.

Most dark patches on radar are not oil. A classifier scores each one against the look-alikes, and only a strong case reaches an analyst.

Radar satellite image of the sea with several dark patches and a ship trailing a long dark discharge streak
Discharge streak behind a vessel · Sentinel-1 SAR · Enhanced with MEPA Clarity

Candidate review4 dark patches

  1. 1 Low wind 0.06 Rejected
  2. 2 Algal film 0.12 Rejected
  3. 3 Rain cell 0.09 Rejected
  4. 4 Mineral oil 0.94 To analyst

One case goes to an analyst.

Dark vessels

Even with AIS off.

A ship can switch off its transponder. It cannot switch off its past.

  1. 01

    The hull still shows.

    A transponder can be switched off. A radar echo cannot: size, heading and position are measured.

  2. 02

    Years of tracks.

    The echo is compared with years of historical AIS tracks, behaviour patterns and port calls in the same waters.

  3. 03

    One ship fits.

    Size, heading and route narrow the field until a single vessel matches.

  4. 04

    Then, who is behind it.

    Owner and manager, flag, insurer, sanctions lists and port-state records complete the dossier.

MEPA Clarity

Clearer scenes. Original evidence.

MEPA Clarity is our enhancement pass. Super-resolution and denoising make every scene legible for analysts — while the original pixels stay with the evidence, untouched.

Satellite view of an island coast with a dark oil slick drifting toward a sandy bay
Slick drifting ashore · Sentinel-2 MSI · Enhanced with MEPA ClarityDrag to compare

  • Super-resolution

    Fine structure — a hull, a wake, the edge of a slick — resolved from coarse pixels.

  • Denoising

    Radar speckle and sensor noise removed, so faint features read clearly.

  • Originals kept

    Every untouched source file is hashed and kept with the evidence.

Automated reporting

From detection to authority, automatically.

Once an analyst confirms a finding, the rest runs on rails: the evidence is packaged, sealed, delivered and followed up.

  1. 01

    Detect

    Every radar and optical pass is screened for dark patches, litter and change on the coast.

  2. 02

    Classify

    The classifier scores each candidate against look-alikes. Weak ones stop here.

  3. 03

    Attribute

    AIS tracks, dark-vessel matching and drift back-tracking on wind and current models point to a source.

  4. 04

    Verify

    An analyst confirms the finding. When it matters, PolarVector verifies on the ground.

  5. 05

    Package

    Acquisitions, the AIS and dark-period timeline, the drift model and the vessel dossier are sealed with SHA-256 and logged for chain of custody.

  6. 06

    Submit

    The package goes to the authority that can act: the coastal state, EMSA CleanSeaNet, the port or the flag state.

  7. 07

    Follow up

    We track the response, and keep asking until the case is addressed.

Container cranes over a sandy shore at a working port

Our investigative arm

PolarVector

When digital intelligence is not enough, our investigations partner works lawfully on the ground — so the evidence holds up before authorities.

  • Vessel intelligence

    Histories, movements and port calls of the ships we flag.

  • Ownership & sanctions

    Owner and manager chains, screened against EU, UK and US lists.

  • On the ground

    Lawful verification in ports and on the coast, so the evidence holds up.

Visit polarvector.uk

Report

Seen something the satellites missed?

Send it to us. Your report enters the same pipeline — verified, documented and delivered to the authority that can act.

Report a violationSee our investigations