Ocean Currents, Pollutants, and Wave Spectra from Gulf of Mexico Brine Disposal Project

Moored instruments collected time-series measurements of ocean currents, marine toxic substance concentrations, and wind wave spectra in the Gulf of Mexico. Data were submitted by Texas A&M University for the Brine Disposal project and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center to standard formats. Observations span from September 15, 1977 to June 30, 1979.

Use Cases

• Analyze current direction and speed time-series at 10-15 minute intervals to model brine plume dispersion.
• Correlate chemical substance concentrations identified by CAS codes with discharge site characteristics like depth and volume.
• Model wave energy using dominant wave direction, height, and period data from the F191 wind wave spectra format.
• Study pollutant transport by linking marine organism samples identified by NODC Taxonomic Codes with concurrent current meter data.
• Assess environmental conditions via concurrent measurements of water temperature, salinity, wind speed, and tide stage.

Strengths

• Data processed to three standardized NODC formats (F005, F144, F191) ensuring consistent structure.
• Time-series measurements reported at high temporal resolution, typically every 10-15 minutes.
• Multidisciplinary dataset combining physical oceanography, chemical analysis, and meteorological observations.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with the last observation recorded in June 1979.
• Specific sample sizes, row counts, and geographic coordinates within the Gulf of Mexico are unknown.
• Data may contain averaging or filtering, and optional comment fields may be inconsistently populated.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), accession 7900295.

Collection Method

Data collected via moored current meter casts and other instruments, with laboratory analysis of water, sediment, and organism samples.

Time Range

1977-09-15 to 1979-06-30

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, near marine discharge sites and monitoring survey areas.