GOM TRACS 2016-11-16 6000' Oil Class: Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Data

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies produced this dataset on oil slick detection and thickness estimation. The data resulted from field research at the chronic MC20 oil discharge site in the Mississippi Canyon, funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and BSEE. It includes synoptic collections of satellite imagery, airborne imagery, and surface oil characterization from research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Use Cases

• Training models for oil slick thickness estimation based on remote sensing data mentioned in the description
• Analyzing patterns of chronic oil discharges based on data from the ongoing MC20 site
• Comparing satellite and airborne imagery for environmental monitoring based on the synoptic collection methods
• Studying oil and water chemistry interactions in marine environments based on the field research scope

Strengths

• Data originates from a major U.S. federal study (NOAA's DWH Lessons Learned Studies) with funding from the Department of the Interior and BSEE
• Research involved multiple collection methods including satellite, airborne, and surface characterization
• Field research was conducted over a multi-year period (2016, 2017, and 2018)

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 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

Field research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 22:27:00.564475; freshness should be verified

Geography

Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20) in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana.