GOM Oil On Water Sampling Track: Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Field Data from 2017

Field research data collected in 2016, 2017, and 2018 as part of NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies. The data were gathered at the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20) site, which has a chronic oil discharge, to develop methods for estimating oil slick coverage and thickness. This research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Oil Spill Preparedness Division.

Use Cases

• Calibrate remote sensing algorithms for oil thickness based on surface oil characterization data.
• Validate satellite and airborne imagery for oil slick coverage using concurrent field measurements.
• Study the chemical properties of emulsified oil based on described oil and water chemistry sampling.
• Model subsurface oil slick dynamics using data collected at the chronic discharge site MC20.

Strengths

• Data collection involved multiple synoptic methods: satellite imagery, airborne imagery, and surface characterization.
• Research was conducted at a real-world, ongoing chronic oil discharge site (MC20) and a controlled test tank (Ohmsett).
• Project was funded by multiple U.S. government agencies, including DOI, BSEE, and NOAA.

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 for quantitative 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 22:33:04.479097; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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