Water Column CTD Profiles from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response

Conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) profiles were collected from the R/V Brooks McCall during the first cruise following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) processed and quality-checked this data, which covers a three-day period from May 9 to May 11, 2010.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil plume transport by analyzing salinity and temperature gradients with depth.
• Calibrating remote sensing sea surface temperature data using in-situ CTD temperature measurements.
• Establishing baseline water column profiles for pre-spill conditions using conductivity and depth data.
• Correlating chemical sample collection points with specific CTD cast locations and depth readings.

Strengths

• Data is processed and quality-checked, as stated in the source description.
• Temporal coverage is precisely defined for the cruise leg from 2010,05,09 to 2010,05,11.
• Data is associated with a major environmental event, providing contextual relevance.

Limitations

• The exact number of CTD casts, rows, and data volume is unknown.
• Data is over a decade old and represents a snapshot from a single, short cruise.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the specific cruise track of the R/V Brooks McCall.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) under accession 0130010.

Collection Method

CTD measurements collected aboard the R/V Brooks McCall, processed into NetCDF files.

Time Range

2010-05-09 to 2010-05-11

Freshness

null

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specific cruise track of the Brooks McCall Cruise 1 Leg 1.