Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Chemical Oceanographic Measurements

NOAA NCEI Accession 0084579 contains chemical oceanographic data collected in the Gulf of Mexico from June 18-23, 2010, in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Subsurface Monitoring Unit gathered measurements of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons and fluorescence using instruments including fluorometers and gas chromatographs. This dataset includes raw sensor data and products created for real-time analysis.

Use Cases

• Analyze Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) concentrations to map subsurface oil plume dispersion.
• Correlate fluorescence measurements with TPH data to calibrate remote sensing proxies for oil.
• Use geospatial and temporal data from the cruise to model the initial spread of hydrocarbons post-spill.
• Assess the effectiveness of real-time decision support products like charts and maps generated during the event.

Strengths

• Data collected during a critical 6-day period immediately following a major environmental disaster.
• Includes multiple complementary measurement types: TPH and fluorescence from specialized instruments.

Limitations

• Data is described as raw and provisional, indicating potential unverified quality.
• Limited temporal coverage to a single, short cruise in June 2010.
• Specific column definitions, row counts, and data formats are not provided in the input.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), collected by the Subsurface Monitoring Unit.

Collection Method

In-situ collection aboard the R/V Ryan Chouest using fluorometers, gas chromatographs, and physical sampling devices.

Time Range

2010-06-18 to 2010-06-23

Freshness

null

Geography

Gulf of Mexico