Department of Environmental Science supports the Danish Navy's oil monitoring activities and contributes to the work of identifying vessels that may have caused oil spills in Danish coast waters. In case of an oil spill at sea, efforts are taken to constrain and remove the oil by the Navy's vessels. In addition, to contain the oil, samples are collected of the pollution and from suspected vessels nearby.

Oil consists of hundreds of chemical compounds and each oil has a unique composition of these various oil compounds. A bit like a fingerprint. This means that by measuring for a wide variety of components it is possible to compare two samples in order to determine if they come from the same source. This can be used to identify whether a ship is responsible for the pollution. The department is responsible for the chemical analysis and assessment of the oil samples according to Bonn Osinet Guideline, prCEN / TR-15522-2, Oil spill identification.