June 7-10, 2010 oceanographic profile data collected via expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) aboard the R/V Walton Smith in the Gulf of Mexico. The dataset was gathered in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and processed by the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP) from near-realtime transmissions. Data is provided by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
Use Cases
- Modeling vertical ocean structure using temperature and salinity profile data to understand oil plume transport.
- Analyzing spatial-temporal patterns of seawater properties in the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 spill event.
- Calibrating satellite-derived sea surface temperature data with in-situ XBT profile measurements.
- Studying short-term oceanographic variability from near-realtime BATHY message data collected over a 4-day cruise.
Strengths
- Data collected during a critical environmental event, providing a snapshot of ocean conditions immediately post-spill.
- Available in multiple standard formats (CSV, NetCDF, GTSPP ASCII) for flexibility.
- Includes ancillary files like inventory, profile plots, and a KML file for geospatial visualization.
Limitations
- Very limited temporal coverage of only 4 days in June 2010.
- Unknown sample size and spatial resolution of the XBT profiles.
- Data is over a decade old, representing a specific event rather than a long-term time series.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), via the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP).
- Collection Method
- Near-realtime expendable bathythermograph (XBT) profiles transmitted as BATHY messages via the Global Telecommunication System (GTS).
- Time Range
- June 7, 2010 to June III0, 2010.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Gulf of Mexico, specifically the area of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.