GOM SAB: Oil Slick Delineation in the Gulf of Mexico, 2016-2018

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies produced this dataset on methods to estimate oil slick coverage and thickness. The research combined satellite imagery, airborne imagery, surface characterization, and subsurface data at the MC20 site, which has experienced a chronic oil discharge since 2004. Data shown here are from field research primarily funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and BSEE in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Use Cases

• Develop oil slick thickness estimation models based on remote sensing data mentioned in the description
• Analyze chronic oil discharge patterns based on multi-year field research at the MC20 site
• Validate satellite and airborne imagery for oil detection based on concurrent surface and subsurface characterization
• Study emulsion mixtures in marine environments based on the described collection of oil and water chemistry data

Strengths

• Data collection involved multiple synoptic methods including satellite, airborne, and surface characterization
• Research spans multiple years (2016, 2017, 2018) at a site with a known, ongoing discharge since 2004
• Funded by authoritative U.S. agencies including the Department of the Interior and BSEE

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 computational analysis

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Field research combining satellite imagery, airborne imagery, surface oil characterization, oil/water chemistry, and subsurface data

Time Range

2016-2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:32:17.542398; freshness should be verified

Geography

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