We employ fluid dynamics simulations to trace the movements of particles through space. This can apply to particles of a bomb cloud through the air, particles of gunpowder expelled by a gunshot, or sea currents or waves.
I.106 Chemical Fire at Marathon Refinery
- Date of Incident
- 24 Aug 2023 – 28 Aug 2023
- Location
- Garyville, Louisiana, USA
- Forums
- Media, Web Platform
- In Partnership With
- The Guardian, Earthjustice, Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, The Descendants Project, Boundless Community Action
- Summary
- When a leaking petrochemical tank at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ caught fire, it produced a thick plume of toxic smoke that spread for miles over neighbouring communities. Authorities claimed that nearby residents were unaffected, even as reports of severe health impacts emerged. Fearing a cover-up, some of those residents asked FA to investigate.
I.103 The Grenfell Tower Fire: Situated Testimonies
- Date of Incident
- 14 Jun 2017
- Location
- Grenfell Tower, North Kensington, London
- Forums
- Citizens' Tribunal, Media
- Commissioned By
- A coalition of lawyers representing bereaved families, survivors and affected local residents
- Summary
- The Grenfell Tower Fire was a generational tragedy for London and the UK, ultimately claiming 72 lives. Using a technique called 'situated testimony', we produced seven video interviews with bereaved family members, survivors, and nearby residents, aided by a 3D model of the tower and its surrounding environment. These interviews were screened for the first time as part of Grenfell Testimony Week.
I.84 Drift-backs in the Aegean Sea
- Date of Incident
- March 2020 – Ongoing
- Location
- Aegean Sea
- Forums
- Legal Process, Human Rights Report, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry, Web Platform
- In Partnership With
- Forensis
- Summary
- Asylum seekers crossing the Aegean Sea are intercepted within Greek waters or arrested after they arrive on Greek shores, beaten, stripped of their possessions, and then forcefully loaded onto life rafts and left to drift back to the Turkish coast. FA/Forensis verified and mapped evidence for over 2000 such ‘drift-backs’, demonstrating the scale of this violent and illegal border defence practice.
I.92 'Tear Gas Tuesday' in Downtown Portland
- Date of Incident
- 02 Jun 2020
- Location
- Portland, Oregon, USA
- Forums
- Legal Process, Exhibition, Media
- Commissioned By
- Self-Initiated
- Summary
- Over the summer of 2020, Portland's police force deployed large amounts of tear gas to suppress local demonstrations against racialised police violence. Focusing on a single representative day—2 June 2020—we simulated the path of the toxic tear gas clouds as they spread widely across the city centre, demonstrating that the concentration levels were in serious excess of recognised safe thresholds.
SP.91 Fire in Moria Refugee Camp · Supported Project ↗
- Date of Incident
- 08 Sep 2020
- Location
- Lesvos, Greece
- Forums
- Legal Process, Exhibition, Media
- Commissioned By
- Lawyers for the Moria 6
- Summary
- The fire which destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos was at least the 247th outbreak to have occurred in and around the overcrowded camp since 2013. Six young asylum seekers who came to be known as the 'Moria 6' were accused of arson and jailed. FA and Forensis reconstructed the fire’s spread, casting significant doubt on the basis for those convictions.
I.89 The Beirut Port Explosion: The Welders
- Date of Incident
- 04 Aug 2020
- Location
- Beirut, Lebanon
- Forums
- Media
- In Partnership With
- Febrayer Network
- Summary
- This investigation examines the validity of the most widely accepted theory to explain what triggered the deadly blast in the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020. Lebanese and international authorities, as well as the FBI and the Lebanese Internal Security, claimed the fire that in turn instigated the explosion was caused by the shoddy work of Syrian welders—but our analysis challenges these claims.
I.80 The Shelling of Khudair Warehouse: Chemical Warfare by Indirect Means
- Date of Incident
- 15 May 2021
- Location
- Gaza, Palestine
- Forums
- Legal Process, Media
- In Partnership With
- Al-Haq
- Summary
- Marking the launch of Al-Haq’s Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit based in Ramallah, we examined the circumstances of the 15 May 2021 Israeli bombing of the Khudair Pharmaceuticals and Agricultural Tools Company in Beit Lahiya—the largest agricultural chemical warehouse in Gaza—as part of the environmental disaster imposed on Palestinians.
I.72 Environmental Racism in Death Alley, Louisiana
- Date of Incident
- 1718 – Ongoing
- Location
- 'Death Alley', Louisiana, USA
- Forums
- Legal Process, United Nations, Exhibition, Media, Web Platform
- In Partnership With
- RISE St. James
- Summary
- A stretch of the Mississippi River once called 'Plantation Country' is now the 'Petrochemical Corridor', known to those who breathe its toxic air as 'Death Alley'. Using advanced techniques in cartography and fluid dynamics, we worked to support local demands for accountability and reparations.
I.67 Tear Gas in Plaza de la Dignidad
- Date of Incident
- 20 Dec 2019
- Location
- Plaza de la Dignidad, Santiago de Chile
- Forums
- Media
- Commissioned By
- No+lacrimógenas
- Summary
- On 20 December 2019, the Chilean security forces used unprecedented quantities of tear gas within a relatively small area against people engaging in peaceful and unarmed protest. Using visual open source analysis and fluid dynamic simulation, we measured the concentration of tear gas in air and on the ground to estimate the scale of health risks posed on civilians on this day.
I.56 Cloud Studies
- Date
- 2008 - Ongoing
- Summary
- Toxic clouds colonise the air we breathe.
I.45 Herbicidal Warfare in Gaza
- Date of Incident
- 01 Jan 2014 – Ongoing
- Location
- Khan Younes, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
- Forums
- Exhibition, Media
- Commissioned By
- Self-Initiated
- Summary
- Since 2014, Israeli military bulldozing of agricultural and residential lands along the eastern border of occupied Gaza has been complemented by unannounced aerial spraying of crop-killing herbicides. Piecing together farmer testimonies, satellite imagery, and drift analysis, we investigated the unique destructive signature of a single spraying event in April 2017, along the border in Khan Younes.
I.31 The Seizure of the Iuventa · With Forensic Oceanography
- Date of Incident
- 02 Aug 2017
- Location
- Mediterranean Sea
- Forums
- Legal Process, Exhibition
- Commissioned By
- Self-Initiated
- Summary
- The Iuventa has rescued over ten thousand people from the Mediterranean since it began operating in 2016. When the vessel was impounded by Italian authorities under suspicion of collusion with people smugglers, we used video evidence and meteorological data to refute the allegations.
I.29 The Ali Enterprises Factory Fire
- Date of Incident
- 11 Sep 2012
- Location
- Karachi, Pakistan
- Forums
- Legal Process
- Commissioned By
- European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
- Summary
- 260 people died when fire broke out in a factory that made textiles for a German retailer. We exposed failings of regulation and inspection, from overcrowding to a lack of fire escapes, in support of a legal claim against the retailer that could break new ground in corporate responsibility.
I.24 The Murder of Halit Yozgat
- Date of Incident
- 06 Apr 2006
- Location
- Kassel, Germany
- Forums
- Citizens' Tribunal, Exhibition, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry
- Commissioned By
- The People's Tribunal 'Unraveling the NSU Complex'
- Summary
- Halit Yozgat was murdered by neo-Nazis at the desk of his internet café in Kassel, Germany, while a state intelligence agent was sitting just metres away. The agent claimed he didn’t hear the gunshots, didn’t smell the gunpowder, and didn’t see the body. Using digital models and 1:1 physical reconstructions, we tested those claims.
I.4 The Left-to-Die Boat · Forensic Oceanography
- Date of Incident
- 27 Mar 2011 – 10 Apr 2011
- Location
- Mediterranean Sea
- Forums
- Legal Process, Exhibition
- Commissioned By
- Self-Initiated
- Summary
- A migrants’ boat was left drifting for two weeks in NATO-monitored waters, its presence known to the Italian coastguard and other nearby vessels. Sixty-three people died. Using an array of sensing technologies—thermal cameras, radar, and tracking—Forensic Oceanography mapped the path of the boat.