Most of the free imagery that SkyTruth has access to does not provide enough detail to detect individuals or objects as small as cars. Occasionally we use high-resolution commercial imagery that is detailed enough to see cars – or bags of fish being loaded into a cargo ship. This high-resolution imagery is capable of showing very large animals, such as elephants and, when they’re at the surface, whales. But it’s difficult to intentionally target moving objects with high-resolution satellites, and we’ve never been able to see individual humans on an image.

What we can see depends on the resolution of specific satellites and what is visible at the time that satellite is flying over a particular area. Depending on the satellite, the amount of cloud cover can also affect how much we can see. For example, radar satellites can penetrate clouds, but optical/infrared satellites cannot.