GOM Oil On Water Sampling Photos: Gulf of Mexico Field Research 2016-2018

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies collected these photos during field research at the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20) in the Gulf of Mexico. The data are part of a study on detecting oil slick coverage and thickness using remote sensing platforms, funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Research was undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Use Cases

• Training computer vision models for oil slick detection based on surface oil characterization imagery.
• Calibrating satellite and airborne remote sensing data based on concurrent field measurements.
• Studying chronic oil discharge patterns and emulsion mixtures based on time-series photographic evidence.
• Developing methods for estimating oil slick thickness based on synoptic field data collection.

Strengths

• Data are part of a formal NOAA study funded by U.S. Department of the Interior and BSEE.
• Research spans multiple years (2016, 2017, 2018) at a known chronic discharge site (MC20).
• Collection methods integrated satellite, airborne, and surface characterization for synoptic analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data formats are PDF and HTML, which may not be directly machine-readable for 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

2016, 2017, 2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:23:38.719773; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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