LThis winter, scientists at the Churchill Marine Observatory in Canada’s subarctic region embarked on experiments in the hopes of finding a treatment that could transform the situation in the polluted Arctic Ocean. they released 130 liters of diesel injected into an ice-covered pool filled with raw seawater pumped from Hudson Bay Then we added microorganisms that eat oil. The technique was used successfully during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and scientists wanted to see if it could break down oil in cold waters.
Eric Collins, a microbiologist at the University of Manitoba Winnipeg who led the project, said the microbes responded slowly, with little change in population over the first three weeks. But it didn’t last long. “We went back eight weeks later and saw a big change,” Collins said. “It was clear that a particular type of bacteria had grown in very high numbers in the tank and was feeding on the oil.” But two months is too long to wait in the event of an oil spill. Time is of the essence.
Last year, a shadow fleet of at least 100 ships sailed through Russia’s Northern Passage. These are often aging, unregulated vessels that surreptitiously transport oil that is under sanctions around the world. According to data collected by the Norwegian nonprofit Verona Foundation, only 13 ships of the shadow fleet sailed in 2024 and none in 2023. In 2025, more than half were oil tankers and liquefied natural gas tankers, of which 18 had low ice ratings or were not designed to operate in icy waters.
This increases the risk of ecological disaster in one of the most fragile environments on Earth. Despite millions of dollars invested in research, almost no technology exists to clean oil from the Arctic Ocean.
A ship escorting ships through the icy seas of the Arctic Passage. Photo: Vasilvich/Getty Images/iStockphoto
“[Shadow fleets]add huge unknowns: Where are these ships, where are they going, what cargo are they carrying? That increases the risk,” said Sian Prior, principal advisor at the Clean Arctic Alliance, a 24-member nonprofit group working to protect the Arctic from the impacts of shipping.
Polar observers have long predicted a steady increase in shipping in the Arctic as sea ice melts, but the sudden appearance of a shadow fleet along the Northern Sea Route was unexpected, experts said. Methods for cleaning up Arctic oil spills have not kept pace.
Ksenia Vakhrusheva, Arctic Project Manager at the Verona Foundation, said: “These ships are usually scrap tankers, but the previous owners didn’t want to pay for scrapping, so they simply sold the ships elsewhere. These types of ships are of most concern when navigating the Northern Sea Route, as even if they encounter thin ice or floating ice, they can be dangerous.”
Eric Collins retrieves the ice core from the control pool using the core barrel. Photo: Jocelyn Plouffe/GenIce Project
The growing threat of large-scale spills in the Arctic Ocean poses a challenge for scientists. Oil behaves differently in the Arctic compared to warmer oceans. Cold temperatures can cause some types of fuel to become more viscous, forming molasses-like globules that sink to the bottom and mix with sediment or stick to ice. Sea ice interferes with boat skimmers and booms used to remove oil from the surface. Additionally, the oil is thick, making pumping and transfer methods difficult.
“One of the central challenges in responding to an oil spill in the Arctic is that it’s the Arctic. If something happens, it’s very difficult to go there and do something,” said Sinov Loftus, senior advisor for oil spill protection and environmental preparedness at the Norwegian Coastal Administration.
Over the past 15 years, millions of dollars have been spent on programs to discover new techniques and techniques to quickly clean up Arctic oil spills. But very little has materialized. In 2012, fossil fuel companies provided $20m (£15m) to establish the Arctic Oil Spill Response Technology Industry Joint Program (JIP). The program ended in 2017, with a comprehensive report acknowledging that “significant improvements in mechanical recovery efficiency cannot be easily achieved through new equipment designs.”
A remote sensing scatterometer programmed to collect data periodically monitors the experimental pool. Photo: Agoston Fischer/GenIce ProjectResearchers Durrell Desmond and Mahdi Zabihi Maban are using probes to measure the internal temperature of ice cores. Photo: Agoston Fischer/GenIce Project
Instead, JIP focused on using dispersants (chemicals that break up oil slicks into smaller particles in the water column) and removing the oil by burning it in situ. Professor Loftus said dispersants could be dangerous, adding: “Dumping oil into the water column along the ice edge or into the ice margin zone when primary production is high can have a major impact on organisms in early sensitive life stages.” Combustion also works well in the Arctic, where ignitable gases evaporate slowly, but can produce black carbon and speed up ice melt.
Some researchers are exploring gentler treatments, such as the Churchill Observatory’s efforts to introduce oil-eating microbes into oil slicks.
But ultimately, Pryor says, no new solutions have materialized. “The (cleanup) technology available today is pretty much the same as it was 10 or 15 years ago,” she says. “There’s nothing new that’s come to market. What’s new is that these fuels have changed.”
In 2020, the International Maritime Organization introduced caps on sulfur content in marine fuels with the aim of reducing ship emissions. This had the unintended consequence of ships adopting new fuels that were more difficult to clean.
After the diesel injection, the researchers wore protective clothing and masks as they collected samples. Photo: Lisa Oswald/GenIce Project
Loftus, who also co-chairs the Arctic Council’s Arctic Oil Spill Research and Development Initiative, said these low-sulfur fuels are often mixed with paraffin. “So there are types of oils that form clumps, or many of them have strange viscoelastic properties, making recovery even more difficult.”
She added that while Shadow Fleet vessels sailing the Northern Sea Route may still be using heavy oil, the vessels are using the cheapest fuel on the market when full, posing further risks to Arctic waters.
Beyond Russia, Arctic infrastructure development and the growing militarization of the region are driving further investment in oil spill investigations. Collins’ research was funded by funding from the Government of Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently proposed revitalizing the deep-sea port of Churchill, which would provide a link to the North Atlantic.
Collins said: “This is no coincidence. There’s been a lot of attention on Churchill. Part of the reason why (the marine observatory) is there is because of the idea that it could become a bigger port in the future and we should do this kind of research.”
Frost flowers on the sea ice. Photo: Agoston Fischer/GenIce Project
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