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Winner by a nose: sniffer dogs beat other methods of detecting oil spills under ice
29/1/2025
News
Scientists in Canada have discovered that dogs can sniff out certain types of oil spilled under ice in freshwater lakes, with a reported 100% success rate.
In research conducted earlier this month in freshwater lakes at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Experimental Lakes Area in north-western Ontario, specially trained dogs were able to detect the location of two types of oil under lake ice. IISD reports that in six out of six instances in a double-blind study, there were no false negative results.
‘These findings have enormous implications for speeding up how we deal with oil spills and protecting our freshwater,’ comments Vince Palace, Head Research Scientist, IISD Experimental Lakes Area. ‘Over the years, we have tried sonar, radar, fluorescence, optical sensors and old-fashioned, labour-intensive drilling – even the human eye with lights under the ice – but even our most sensitive scientific instruments and manual methods cannot come close to the 100% success rate of our canine friends.’
He adds: ‘The oil detection canines (ODCs) are quick – covering up to 400 m2 in 20 minutes; they’re relatively inexpensive to train; and they’re evidently extremely accurate.’
When dealing with the aftermath of an oil spill from a marine pipeline under ice, response teams can spend much of their precious time determining where exactly the oil has spilled before taking action to clean up – a situation made much worse when working in frozen and harsh conditions.
‘Using dogs in the initial response could greatly assist the process of oil spill response and clean-up, resulting in less of an impact on fragile freshwater ecosystems’, reports IISD.
The study is part of a broader research project currently being conducted on freshwater lakes at the IISD Experimental Lakes Area to determine the effectiveness of ODCs to detect oil under ice. It is being carried out with funding from the US Coast Guard Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise and in collaboration with Chiron K9, Owens Coastal Consultants, DF Dickins and SLRoss.