CTD Water Column Measurements from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response

August 14-20, 2010 data from NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow in the Gulf of Mexico. The dataset contains Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) measurements including dissolved oxygen and fluorometry, collected to assess oceanographic conditions during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. NOAA NCEI processed and quality-checked the data, delivering it as a series of NetCDF files.

Use Cases

• Modeling the vertical distribution of salinity and temperature (conductivity/salinity, depth) in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Analyzing dissolved oxygen anomalies near the spill site to assess potential hypoxic conditions.
• Correlating fluorometry readings with other spill indicators to trace oil plume dispersion.
• Validating hydrodynamic models of the Gulf using quality-checked CTD cast profiles.

Strengths

• Data is processed and quality-checked, as stated in the description.
• Covers a specific, critical event (Deepwater Horizon oil spill) with precise temporal bounds from 2010-08-14 to 2010-08-20.
• Includes multiple physical and chemical parameters: temperature, conductivity, depth, dissolved oxygen, and fluorometry.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to a single 7-day cruise, providing a snapshot rather than long-term monitoring.
• Spatial coverage is restricted to the specific cruise track of the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Unknown sample size (row count) and file size details.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Accession 0128115.

Collection Method

Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) measurements collected onboard the R/V Henry B. Bigelow, Cruise 02.

Time Range

2010-08-14 to 2010-08-20

Freshness

Data collection ended on 2010-08-20; it is a historical archive with no stated update frequency.

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specific to the cruise track of NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow.