GOM WM UAVSAR 2016-11 Oil Class: Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Data from UAVSAR

2016-2018 data collected as part of NOAA's Deepwater Horizon lessons learned study on oil slick detection. The dataset contains remote sensing imagery and field data from the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20), a site of a chronic oil discharge. Research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and NOAA.

Use Cases

• Training models to classify oil slick thickness and emulsion mixtures based on airborne and satellite imagery.
• Developing synoptic methods for oil slick coverage estimation based on the described multi-platform data collection.
• Analyzing chronic oil discharge patterns from a specific offshore site (MC20) based on the field research location.
• Calibrating remote sensing platforms for environmental response management based on the study's stated objectives.

Strengths

• Data is part of a formal NOAA and BSEE-funded interagency study (Agreement E16PG00023).
• Collection involved multiple methods: satellite imagery, airborne imagery, surface characterization, and chemistry.
• Focuses on a specific, well-documented chronic discharge site (Mississippi Canyon block MC20).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Available file formats are listed as PDF and HTML, which may not contain the primary raw or processed data.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Field research involving synoptic collection of satellite, airborne, and surface data at the Ohmsett test tank and the MC20 site.

Time Range

2016, 2017, and 2018.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:20:04.595592; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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