Patent ID: 8473227

Claim:
A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity in storage in an underground cavern based on an estimation of a volume of a brine in a brine pond associated with the underground cavern, comprising the steps of: establishing a volume function for the brine pond based on physical contours of the brine pond, and storing the volume function in a database; acquiring an image of the brine pond at a subsequent time; transmitting the acquired image to a central processing facility; identifying a first contour in the acquired image at or near a top edge of the brine pond; identifying a second contour in the acquired image representative of a level of the brine in the brine pond; determining an average distance between the first contour and the second contour; calculating a depth of the brine in the brine pond based on the average distance; estimating the volume of the brine in the brine pond based on the calculated depth and using the volume function stored in the database; determining the amount of the liquid energy commodity in storage in the underground cavern associated with the brine pond based on the estimated volume of the brine in the brine pond; and communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity in storage to a third-party market participant.