Deepwater Horizon CTD Data: Gulf of Mexico Water Column Profiles

Gulf of Mexico water column profiles from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill response. The dataset contains processed Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) casts collected aboard the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter to determine stratification and validate sampling models. Data is provisional and delivered in netCDF format.

Use Cases

• Modeling water column stratification based on CTD-derived density profiles.
• Validating the depth of environmental samples collected during the spill response.
• Analyzing spatial-temporal patterns of oceanographic parameters like conductivity and temperature.
• Assessing physical oceanographic conditions in the Mississippi Canyon area during the event.

Strengths

• Data is processed and quality-checked, as stated in the source descriptions.
• Covers a specific, critical event (Deepwater Horizon oil spill) with a defined time range from 2010-05-28 to 2010-06-04.
• Available on multiple platforms (nasa_earthdata, datagov), indicating established provenance and importance.

Limitations

• Metadata is incomplete: column names, row counts, file sizes, and license information are unknown across all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (2026-03-06 vs. 2010-06-04), casting doubt on data maintenance.
• Data is explicitly labeled as provisional, which may affect its use for definitive analysis.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information)

Collection Method

CTD casts collected aboard NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter during Cruise 1 Leg 1.

Time Range

2010-05-28 to 2010-06-04

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:04:46.020246

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specifically the Mississippi Canyon area.