Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Oceanographic Data from the Brooks McCall

Oceanographic data were collected aboard the research vessel Brooks McCall in the Gulf of Mexico from June 10 to 14, 2010, in direct response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The dataset includes chemical, physical, and profile measurements such as volatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons, conductivity, temperature, and salinity, gathered by a multi-agency Subsurface Monitoring Unit. Data products include laboratory analysis results, preliminary quality-controlled CTD profiles, and supporting materials like charts and cruise reports.

Use Cases

• Analyzing concentrations of specific volatile organic compounds (e.g., 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene) to map chemical plumes from the spill.
• Correlating physical oceanographic parameters like conductivity, temperature, and salinity with chemical measurements to understand dispersion mechanisms.
• Assessing total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) levels alongside suspended solids data to evaluate contamination load in the water column.
• Using CTD profile data, which underwent preliminary QA/QC, to model hydrostatic pressure and water density changes post-spill.
• Integrating semivolatile organic compound analysis with GIS-formatted data products for spatial decision support.

Strengths

• Data collection was focused on a critical 5-day period immediately following a major environmental disaster, providing a temporal snapshot of initial subsurface conditions.
• Measurements were taken using specialized instruments including CTD, LISST, transmissometers, and fluorometers, indicating direct sensor-based and bottle sampling.
• The dataset includes provisional laboratory analysis results for a wide range of specific organic compounds, as listed in platform tags.
• CTD data underwent preliminary quality assurance and control procedures at the National Coastal Data Development Center.

Limitations

• Core metadata conflicts: the last updated date is reported as 2026-03 05 (future date) on Data.gov but 2010-06-14 on NASA EarthData, indicating a probable metadata error.
• Essential structural details like row count, file size, column names, and specific license are unknown across all platforms.
• Analytical chemistry data are described as provisional, indicating they are not final certified values.

Provenance

Source

Subsurface Monitoring Unit (SMU), consisting of multiple government and corporate agencies, collected for NOAA NCEI (Accession 0069048).

Collection Method

Data gathered via shipboard instruments (CTD, LISST, transmissometer, fluorometer, oxygen meter) and physical bottle sampling for onshore laboratory analysis.

Time Range

2010-06-10 to 2010-06 -14

Freshness

2010-06-14 00:00:00

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, aboard the Brooks McCall research vessel.