SAR Vessel Density Tracking in the Strait of Hormuz

Monitor oil tanker and cargo ship concentrations in C-band SAR imagery with meter-level precision. Klarety agents detect vessel signatures, quantify clustering across transit corridors, and flag congestion buildup in real time. One prompt delivers a complete shipping density intelligence report — no GIS experience, no ArcGIS license, no coding.

SAR intelligence for maritime shipping analysts

Klarety AI
Klarety AI chat composer interface

Satellite-backed maritime intelligence

AI agents query Sentinel-1 SAR and return analyst-grade vessel density reports from a single prompt.

SAR - Sentinel-1
Klarety satellite analysis output

C-band vessel signature detection

Agents compute VV backscatter to classify vessel size and flag clustering anomalies across Hormuz transit corridors.

GIS Output
Klarety AI map annotation overlay

Density layers for maritime GIS pipelines

Export vessel density GeoJSON for overlay with AIS route data in QGIS, PostGIS, or GEE.

How Klarety tracks vessel density in Hormuz

Klarety agents pull Sentinel-1 GRD scenes over the Hormuz AOI, compute VV backscatter vessel detection, and cluster vessels into density grids at 500m resolution. The output is a structured JSON density report with vessel count, size classification, and congestion severity per corridor — delivered in minutes from one prompt. Try it at klarety.ai.

Klarety AIRun Hormuz vessel density analysis
analysis/hormuz_vessel_density.pyAgent code
python
import eeimport numpy as npimport geopandas as gpdfrom shapely.geometry import box
ee.Initialize()
# Hormuz AOIaoi = ee.Geometry.Rectangle([55.8, 25.8, 57.2, 26.8])
# Sentinel-1 GRD - descending pass, VV polarizations1 = (ee.ImageCollection('COPERNICUS/S1_GRD')      .filterBounds(aoi)      .filterDate('2026-04-01', '2026-05-01')      .filter(ee.Filter.eq('instrumentMode', 'IW'))      .filter(ee.Filter.eq('orbitProperties_pass', 'DESCENDING'))      .select('VV')      .mean())
# Threshold backscatter to detect vessel signatures# Vessels appear as bright returns (> -8 dB) against sea cluttervessel_mask = s1.gt(-8)
# Kernel density: count detections per 500m grid cellkernel = ee.Kernel.square(radius=5, units='pixels')density = vessel_mask.convolve(kernel).rename('vessel_density')
# Export density gridstats = density.reduceRegion(    reducer=ee.Reducer.mean().combine(        ee.Reducer.max(), sharedInputs=True    ),    geometry=aoi,    scale=100,    maxPixels=1e9).getInfo()
print(f"Mean density score: {stats['vessel_density_mean']:.3f}")print(f"Peak density score: {stats['vessel_density_max']:.3f}")
# Export as GeoTIFF for GIS integrationtask = ee.batch.Export.image.toDrive(    image=density,    description='hormuz_vessel_density_may2026',    scale=100,    region=aoi,    fileFormat='GeoTIFF')task.start()print("Export task started: hormuz_vessel_density_may2026.tif")
output/hormuz_density_report.mdOutput report
python
# Hormuz Vessel Density Report**AOI:** Strait of Hormuz (55.8-57.2°E, 25.8-26.8°N)**Period:** April 2026 | **Source:** Sentinel-1 GRD, descending
## Key Findings- Mean density score **0.41** across full strait (baseline: 0.28 in Jan 2026)- Peak density **0.89** detected at western chokepoint (56.1°E corridor)- **47% above baseline** — consistent with conflict-period traffic compression- Eastern lanes showing diversion pattern; 3 anomalous anchor clusters flagged
## Density by Corridor| Corridor        | Density Score | vs Baseline | Status     ||-----------------|---------------|-------------|------------|| Western inbound | 0.89          | +68%        | Congested  || Central transit | 0.54          | +41%        | Elevated   || Eastern outbound| 0.21          | -12%        | Reduced    || Anchor zone N   | 0.76          | +210%       | Anomalous  |
## MethodsSentinel-1 C-band GRD (IW mode, VV polarization), 10m spatial resolution.Detection threshold: -8 dB VV to isolate vessel returns from sea clutter.Density computed via 5x5 pixel kernel convolution at 100m grid.Confidence: High (cloud-independent SAR; 3 passes composited).

Try Klarety now.