Retrieve detections

GET https://contrails.googleapis.com/v2/detections: Get contrail detections in GeoJSON LineString format.

If successful, the response will be a FeatureCollection in GeoJSON format.

Returned coordinates are the longitude and latitude of the endpoints of the linearized detection, projected onto the earth's surface from the satellite's perspective. For GOES detections, returned coordinates also optionally include speculated altitude values.

Querying detections with a time range that is out of scope, like a specified time that is in the future, returns an empty FeatureCollection.

Note: MTG detections are in beta and are subject to change.

Query parameters

Parameters
start_time	string Required. Start time of request. Format: ISO 8601 datetime string Example: 2026-01-20T21:00:00Z
end_time	string Required. End time of request (inclusive). Note that end_time cannot exceed start_time by more than 24 hours. Format: ISO 8601 datetime string Example: 2026-01-20T22:00:00Z
satellite_origins[]	string Optional. Valid values are GOES-EAST-FULL-DISK, HIMAWARI-FULL-DISK, and MTG-000-FULL-DISK, representing the GOES_EAST, Himawari and MTG satellites, respectively. When present, this endpoint will only return detected contrails from satellites specified within satellite_origins. When not present, returns detected contrails from all applicable satellite data providers. Format: string array Example: ["GOES-EAST-FULL-DISK", "HIMAWARI-FULL-DISK"]
bounds[]	string Optional. A list of string pairs, each of which must be in a "latitude,longitude" format, specifying the vertices for a bounding polygon. If present, at least three bounds must be specified. The bounds must form a valid polygon (e.g. no duplicate vertices, no self-intersection) When present, this endpoint will only return detected contrails that intersect with any portion of the bounding polygon. When not present, returns detected contrails regardless of location. Format: string array Example: ["37.7,-122.41", "37.78,-122.42", "37.79, -122.43"]

Examples

• To retrieve all contrail detections for a specific window of time:

  response = requests.get(
    url="https://contrails.googleapis.com/v2/detections",
    params={"start_time": "2026-01-27T12:00:00Z",
            "end_time": "2026-01-27T12:10:00Z"},
    headers={"x-goog-api-key": API_KEY},
  )
  

• To retrieve all contrail detections for a specific window of time, limited by bounding polygon:

  response = requests.get(
    url="https://contrails.googleapis.com/v2/detections",
    params={"start_time": "2026-01-27T12:00:00Z",
            "end_time": "2026-01-27T12:10:00Z",
            "bounds": ["37.7,-122.41", "37.78,-122.42", "37.79, -122.43"]},
    headers={"x-goog-api-key": API_KEY},
  )
  

• To retrieve contrail detections for a specific window of time, limited to Himawari detections:

  response = requests.get(
    url="https://contrails.googleapis.com/v2/detections",
    params={"start_time": "2026-01-27T12:00:00Z",
            "end_time": "2026-01-27T12:10:00Z",
            "satellite_origins": ["HIMAWARI-FULL-DISK"]},
    headers={"x-goog-api-key": API_KEY},
  )
  

  or in CURL:

  curl "https://contrails.sandbox.googleapis.com/v2/detections?\
  key=API_KEY&\
  start_time=2026-01-27T12:00:00Z&\
  end_time=2026-01-27T12:10:00Z&\
  satellite_origins=HIMAWARI-FULL-DISK"
  

  The GeoJSON response for this request lists contrail detection data from Himawari satellites for the requested time range:

  {
    "type": "FeatureCollection",
    "features": [
      {
        "type": "Feature",
        "geometry": {
          "type": "LineString",
          "coordinates": [
            [
              90.06765747070312,
              44.201324462890625
            ],
            [
              90.99974060058594,
              43.65225601196289
            ]
          ]
        },
        "properties": {
          "time": "2026-01-27T12:00:00+00:00",
          "satellite_origin": "HIMAWARI-FULL-DISK"
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "Feature",
        "geometry": {
          "type": "LineString",
          "coordinates": [
            [
              105.36386108398438,
              -1.7198446989059448
            ],
            [
              105.7318115234375,
              -2.5787696838378906
            ]
          ]
        },
        "properties": {
          "time": "2026-01-27T12:10:00+00:00",
          "satellite_origin": "HIMAWARI-FULL-DISK"
        }
      }
    ]
  }