GOM FT 2016-11-17: Flight Path Data for Oil Spill Remote Sensing Research

A flight path dataset collected for a NOAA study on detecting oil slick coverage and thickness using remote sensing platforms. The research was part of the Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies, focusing on the chronic oil discharge at the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20). Data collection for this field research was undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018, funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Use Cases

• Calibrating remote sensing oil thickness algorithms based on synoptic airborne imagery collection.
• Analyzing chronic oil discharge patterns based on data from the Mississippi Canyon MC20 site.
• Integrating flight path data with surface oil characterization and subsurface slick data for comprehensive spill modeling.
• Training models to estimate oil slick coverage based on methods developed at the Ohmsett test tank.

Strengths

• Data is part of a multi-year field research program (2016, 2017, 2018) funded by U.S. federal agencies.
• Supports a specific NOAA study on synoptic collection of satellite and airborne imagery for oil spill response.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific MC20 site in the Gulf of Mexico.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Collected as part of field research involving airborne imagery and surface characterization at the MC20 site.

Time Range

Field research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018; specific flight on 2016-11-17.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:24:03.742493; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20) in the Gulf of Mexico, near Louisiana.