GOM OI 2017-04-26: Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Remote Sensing Data

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies collected these data to develop methods for estimating oil slick coverage and thickness. The research involved synoptic collection of satellite and airborne imagery, surface characterization, and subsurface data at the MC20 site, which has experienced a chronic oil discharge since 2004. This specific dataset is part of field research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018, funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and NOAA.

Use Cases

• Training machine learning models for oil slick detection based on satellite and airborne imagery.
• Analyzing oil emulsion mixtures and thickness using surface characterization data.
• Studying chronic oil discharge patterns at a specific site (MC20) over time.
• Validating remote sensing platforms and methods for environmental response management.

Strengths

• Data is part of a multi-year field research program (2016-2018) funded by authoritative U.S. agencies (NOAA, BSEE).
• Research involved multiple data collection methods, including satellite imagery, airborne imagery, and surface characterization.
• Focuses on a real-world, ongoing chronic oil discharge site (MC20 since 2004) for applied study.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is delivered in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Field research involving synoptic collection of satellite imagery, airborne imagery, surface oil characterization, oil and water chemistry, and subsurface oil slick data.

Time Range

Field research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:22:37.796429; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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