Tiny Bubbles

Bubbles and Turtles...

How wind currents affect scent.

Imagine how dandelion seeds are carried along the air when blown....this is how scent is carried as well.  Why is this important when teaching a dog to detect odor?  Because sending a dog into and across the wind will often times assist them in detecting a scent with greater ease.  Physics is behind much of what we know in odor theory.  Warm air rises while cool air sinks.  Cold and moisture make air heavier (think of fog or a marine layer-as the sun comes up the thick layer dissipates.  When there is no movement in the air, scent becomes diffuse making it more difficult to determine odor location because, the scent moves in all directions evenly from its source.  Air that moves in a straight line is often not affected by objects in its path but continues linear around the object and then back into a straight line.  Turbulent air moves very chaotic in flow and around objects making conditions more challenging as well.  As the ground gets warm, air rises up and as it gets cool the air falls much in the way water flows.  Odor will often times disperse out into a cone shape from the source.  This is why you will often see search dogs moving in a zig zag pattern while searching. 

Why is this important to a handler?  Because handlers can use the air, time of day, wind, terrain to their advantage and for more effective time management.  The same applies when using a dog for conservation efforts.  There are various ways to determine which way the wind is blowing.  Some handlers will use visual cues such as a windsock, flagging tape or flags.  Others carry small bottles of powder that makes a plume.  I sometimes use powder but my preference is bubbles.  I buy the little tubes of heavy duty bubbles that I can carry with ease. Those tiny bubbles show me many things and take longer to dissipate then the powder.  They tend to move with the airflow longer and are light.  The down side of using bubbles is they can spill or dry out between exercises and they freeze in cold weather so powder is a good back up.  

Who doesn't love bubbles?  

Tiny bubbles & Tau