CTD Water Column Measurements from Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response

Gulf of Mexico water column data includes conductivity, temperature, depth, dissolved oxygen, and fluorometry measurements collected aboard the R/V Brooks McCall from May 23 to May 25, 2010. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information processed and quality-checked the data, producing a series of NetCDF files for each CTD cast. This data was gathered during Cruise 4 Leg 1 as part of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill sampling effort.

Use Cases

• Analyze temperature and salinity profiles over depth to model water column stratification during the spill event.
• Correlate fluorometry data with dissolved oxygen measurements to assess potential impacts on phytoplankton communities.
• Map the spatial distribution of conductivity measurements from the cruise to track plume dispersion.
• Use the time-series of CTD casts to reconstruct daily variations in oceanographic parameters near the spill site.
• Integrate depth and temperature data with other spill response datasets to evaluate sampling strategy effectiveness.

Strengths

• Data covers a specific 3-day period during a major environmental event, providing a focused snapshot.
• Measurements include multiple physical and biological parameters (temperature, conductivity, depth, dissolved oxygen, fluorometry) per cast.
• Final product is processed and quality-checked, as stated in the description.

Limitations

• The exact number of rows (CTD casts), columns, and total dataset size is unknown.
• Data is from a single vessel over a very short timeframe, limiting spatial and temporal scope.
• Data is over 14 years old, with no indication of ongoing updates.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 0130178).

Collection Method

Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) measurements collected onboard the R/V Brooks McCall.

Time Range

2010-05-23 to 2010-05-25.

Freshness

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Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specific locations from the Brooks McCall Cruise 4 Leg 1.