GOM Oil On Water Sampling Track: Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Field Data 2016-2018

2016-2018 field research data collected by NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration to study oil slick coverage and thickness in the Gulf of Mexico. The data were part of the Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies, focusing on the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20) site. Research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Use Cases

• Train remote sensing algorithms for oil slick detection based on synoptic satellite and airborne imagery collection.
• Model oil emulsion mixtures and thickness based on surface oil characterization and chemistry data.
• Validate environmental response management tools using integrated field survey data from a chronic discharge site.

Strengths

• Data collection spans multiple years (2016, 2017, 2018), providing temporal context.
• Integrates multiple data sources including satellite imagery, airborne imagery, and surface characterization.
• Focuses on a specific, ongoing chronic oil discharge site (Mississippi Canyon MC20) for targeted analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Primary file formats are PDF and HTML, which may require extraction or conversion 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

2016-2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:26:44.061119; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specifically Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20), Louisiana, USA