GOM WM RS2 SAR TCNNA: Oil Emulsion Thickness from Remote Sensing in the Gulf of Mexico

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies collected these data to estimate oil slick coverage and thickness. The research involved synoptic satellite and airborne imagery, surface characterization, and chemistry data from the Mississippi Canyon 20 (MC20) site, which has experienced a chronic oil discharge since 2004. This dataset represents field research from 2016, 2017, and 2018, funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and NOAA.

Use Cases

• Train machine learning models to detect oil thickness based on satellite and airborne imagery mentioned in the description.
• Analyze the relationship between remote sensing signatures and surface oil characterization data collected in the field.
• Develop methods for estimating emulsion mixtures from synoptic imagery as described in the study.
• Validate oil slick coverage algorithms using data from a known chronic discharge site (MC20).

Strengths

• Data is part of a formal NOAA study with funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior and BSEE.
• Research spans multiple years (2016, 2017, 2018) at a specific, well-documented chronic oil discharge site (MC20).
• Integrates multiple data collection methods: 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 is delivered in PDF and HTML formats, 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, surface oil characterization, oil and water chemistry, and subsurface oil slick data.

Time Range

2016, 2017, 2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 22:21:58.807927; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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