Gulf of Mexico Wetland Assessment: Water, Soil, and Biomass Chemistry 1988-1989

Coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico were surveyed for a multi-faceted environmental assessment from 1988 to 1989. The dataset likely contains measurements of suspended solids, water chemistry (salinity, ammonia, nitrate, phosphate), physical parameters (temperature, currents, tides), and biological components including invertebrate biology and marsh plant biomass and heavy metals. It was collected under a specific agreement aimed at mitigating wetland impacts from offshore oil and gas activities.

Use Cases

• Assessing nutrient pollution (eutrophication) based on ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate concentrations.
• Modeling sedimentation rates and their impact on wetlands based on suspended solids and sedimentation data.
• Evaluating the health of marsh vegetation based on leaf and stem biomass and chemistry measurements.
• Analyzing the relationship between physical water parameters (temperature, salinity, currents) and biological communities.
• Studying historical contamination from heavy metals in coastal wetland soils and sediments.

Strengths

• Covers a specific two-year time series from 1988-01-01 to 1989-12-31, providing a temporal snapshot.
• Includes a wide range of interrelated physical, chemical, and biological parameters for a holistic environmental assessment.
• Originates from a defined cooperative agreement (MMS 14-12-0001-30410) with a clear purpose: mitigating wetland impacts from OCS activities.
• Is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (nasa_earthdata, data.gov), indicating recognized value and persistence.

Limitations

• Column names and the exact data structure are unknown, complicating direct analysis.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, license, and specific author are missing from all sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata between 1989-12-31 and 2026-03-05, creating uncertainty about maintenance.

Provenance

Source

Louisiana State and the Louisiana Geological Service, under MMS Cooperative Agreement No.14-12-0001-30410.

Collection Method

Data was collected from fixed platforms in coastal waters and originally submitted on physical tapes (files AO1373 and 18770), later copied to digital storage by NODC/NOAA_NCEI.

Time Range

1988-01-01 to 1989-12-31

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:44:02.561013

Geography

Coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.