Dogs Trained to Detect Crude Oil on Gulf Coast Beaches
Oil Detection Canine study.At the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), housed within the College of Science and Engineering at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a team is currently focused on training Bin to differentiate between naturally occurring weathered oil (tar balls) and fresher crude oils (example: oil spills) up to three feet below the sand. As the control canine, Poppy is taught to detect any occurrence of oil. Poppy is handled by Paul Bunker of Chiron K9 while Bin is handled by citizen scientist Mike Price who adopted the dog from Chiron K9.“Canines are extremely precise and can detect very
How AUVS Can Spot Oil Plumes After an Ocean Spill
On April 20, 2010, the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned, sank in the Gulf of Mexico and terrified the world. This horrific accident — recorded as the largest oil spill in history — killed 11 workers and released 210 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean.While about a half of the oil rose to the surface, the other half formed a suspended plume of many tiny oil droplets about 1,000 meters below the surface. Its extent and whereabouts couldn’t be determined from above.Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are untethered marine robots that can explore the underwate
Peru Oil Spill Declared an Environmental Emergency
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency on Thursday as clean-up teams struggled to contain a huge oil spill at the country's biggest refinery, after rogue waves rocked a ship unloading crude there.The spill, blamed on unusual swells caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away in Tonga on Sunday, has dirtied waters and beaches along Peru's Pacific coast, with dead birds and seals washing up on shore."We are at a critical moment in environmental matters," said Castillo, before signing the emergency decree on one of the beaches hit by the spill.
February 2024
