Ferrel Cruise: Hydrocarbon Analysis After Deepwater Horizon

From July 3 to July 7, 2010, the research vessel Ferrel collected oceanographic data in the Gulf of Mexico in direct response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The dataset contains provisional laboratory analysis results for Semivolatile Organic Compounds, Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons, and Volatile Organic Compounds from water and sediment samples. It also includes derived products like charts, maps, and GIS files created for real-time decision support during the incident.

Use Cases

• Tracking hydrocarbon contamination levels based on laboratory analysis of water and sediment samples.
• Mapping the spatial distribution of pollutants using the included GIS-formatted data files.
• Assessing the composition of spilled oil through analysis of specific compounds like naphthalenes and hopanes.
• Supporting real-time environmental decision-making during a spill response with charts and graphs.
• Studying the fate of petroleum hydrocarbons in marine environments post-spill.

Strengths

• Data is directly tied to a major, well-documented environmental event (the Deepwater Horizon spill on April 20, 2010).
• Includes both raw analytical chemistry data and synthesized products (charts, maps, GIS files) for decision support.
• Collected by a multi-agency government task force (the Subsurface Monitoring Unit), suggesting coordinated oversight.

Limitations

• Key structural metadata is missing: column names, row counts, and file formats are not provided in any source.
• The data is explicitly described as 'provisional', indicating it may not be the final, quality-controlled version.
• Conflicting last-update dates exist between platforms (2010-07-07 vs. 2026-03-05), casting doubt on metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

Subsurface Monitoring Unit (SMU), consisting of multiple government and corporate agencies.

Collection Method

Onshore laboratory analysis of physical water and sediment samples collected via bottle and other devices aboard the RV Ferrel.

Time Range

2010-07-03 to 2010-07-07

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:14:22.687894 (from datagov, though this future date may be an error)

Geography

Gulf of Mexico