MC20 Oil On Water Sampling Track: Remote Sensing and Field Data for Oil Slick Analysis

2016-2018 data collected by NOAA as part of the Deepwater Horizon Lessons Learned Studies on oil slick detection. The dataset includes synoptic satellite and airborne imagery, surface oil characterization, and water chemistry from the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20) site. Research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Use Cases

• Train models for oil slick detection and classification based on satellite and airborne imagery mentioned in the description
• Analyze relationships between surface oil characteristics and water chemistry data collected in the field
• Develop methods for estimating oil slick coverage and thickness using multi-platform remote sensing data
• Study chronic oil discharge patterns at a specific offshore site (MC20) over a multi-year period

Strengths

• Data collected over three years (2016, 2017, 2018) for temporal analysis
• Integrates multiple data sources: satellite imagery, airborne imagery, and in-situ field measurements
• Focuses on a real-world, ongoing chronic oil discharge site (MC20)
• Produced by NOAA, a leading authoritative agency in ocean and atmospheric science

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 require extraction or conversion 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, and water chemistry.

Time Range

2016-2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:23:36.760102; freshness should be verified

Geography

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