Detecting animal burrows with smoke bombs

Name: HZ University of Applied Sciences
Price range: $

Year of publication 2026
Author(s)
Vana Tsimopoulou Robert Lanzafame
Research center(s)
Assetmanagement

Summary

Infosheet. Within the context of animal burrows surveys that took place in the test season 2021-2022 in the living lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder, an experimental setup with smoke bombs was developed to verify whether detected burrows by small rodents are interconnected in the subsurface. By injecting colored smoke in one of the detected burrows the team could observe if the smoke would exit the ground from other burrows in the proximity gaining insight into the extent of subsurface connections of burrows. The detection of several exit points is a sign that there is a system of tunnels in the levee that leads to a den. This is most likely a weak spot on the levee that requires attention by the levee managers. The test was repeated 5 times using different variants in its assembly and also testing burrows by larger animals. This helped to gradually improve the setup and make it more practical for use by levee inspectors.

Documents

Infosheet smoke test_V.Tsimopoulou