MC20: Oil Slick Thickness and Coverage Data from Field Research 2016-2018

NOAA's field research data collected to develop methods for estimating oil slick coverage and thickness at the Mississippi Canyon lease block #20 (MC20). The data includes synoptic satellite imagery, airborne imagery, surface oil characterization, and water chemistry from research undertaken in 2016, 2017, and 2018. This research was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and the Oil Spill Preparedness Division.

Use Cases

• Training remote sensing models to detect oil thickness based on satellite and airborne imagery mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the chemical composition of oil and water mixtures from field samples described in the study.
• Developing synoptic methods for oil slick coverage estimation using multi-platform data collection techniques.
• Studying chronic oil discharge patterns at a specific offshore site (MC20) over a multi-year period.

Strengths

• Data collection spans three years (2016, 2017, 2018), providing temporal depth.
• Integrates multiple data sources including satellite, airborne, surface, and subsurface measurements.
• Research was funded and conducted by authoritative agencies (NOAA, BSEE, U.S. Department of the Interior).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is presented 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 22:26:14.149217; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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