MC20 Oil On Water Sampling Photos from NOAA Field Research 2016-2018

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies collected these photos to develop methods for estimating oil slick coverage and thickness. The data includes synoptic satellite and airborne imagery, surface oil characterization, and subsurface data from the chronic MC20 discharge site. Research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement between 2016 and 2018.

Use Cases

• Train computer vision models to detect oil slicks based on the described airborne and satellite imagery.
• Validate remote sensing algorithms for oil thickness estimation based on the field-collected surface characterization data.
• Study chronic oil discharge patterns and environmental impact based on the multi-year data collection at the MC20 site.

Strengths

• Data is part of a formal NOAA study funded by U.S. Department of the Interior and BSEE.
• Collection spans multiple years (2016, 2017, 2018) at a known chronic discharge site.
• Integrates multiple data sources including satellite, airborne, surface, and subsurface measurements.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data 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 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 22:25:45.784462; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20), Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico