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

NOAA's DWH Lessons Learned Studies collected these photos as part of research on detecting oil slick coverage and thickness. The data are from the MC20 field research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018 at the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20, a site with a chronic oil discharge. This research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior, BSEE, and the Oil Spill Preparedness Division.

Use Cases

• Training computer vision models for oil slick identification based on aerial imagery.
• Calibrating satellite and airborne remote sensing platforms based on surface oil characterization data.
• Studying the evolution of chronic oil discharges over time based on multi-year field research.
• Developing methods to estimate oil slick thickness and emulsion mixtures based on synoptic data collection.

Strengths

• Data is part of a multi-year research program (2016, 2017, 2018) funded by authoritative U.S. agencies.
• Focuses on a specific, real-world chronic oil discharge site (Mississippi Canyon lease block #20).
• Collection methods included synoptic satellite imagery, airborne imagery, and surface characterization.

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 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, and surface oil characterization.

Time Range

2016, 2017, 2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:23:18.448112; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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