Deepwater Horizon CTD Data from R/V Jack Fitz Cruise

Conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) measurements were collected aboard the R/V Jack Fitz during Cruise 02 in the Gulf of Mexico. The data includes temperature, conductivity/salinity, depth, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and fluorometry readings from multiple casts, processed and quality-checked into NetCDF files. This dataset was created by NOAA NCEI as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of temperature and salinity in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Investigating dissolved oxygen levels and turbidity related to oil spill dispersion.
• Mapping the spatial distribution of fluorometry data as a proxy for chlorophyll or hydrocarbons.
• Correlating CTD cast data with other biological or chemical samples collected during the cruise.
• Studying oceanographic conditions during the Deepwater Horizon response for model validation.

Strengths

• Data has been processed and quality checked, as stated in all platform descriptions.
• Contains multiple measured parameters including temperature, salinity, depth, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and fluorometry.
• Associated with a major environmental event (Deepwater Horizon oil spill), increasing its relevance for impact studies.

Limitations

• Exact row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2010-05-31 vs. 2026-04-01), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Measurements collected via shipboard CTD casts aboard the R/V Jack Fitz.

Time Range

2010-05-22 to 2010-05-31

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:21:00.576880

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specifically the Mississippi Canyon area.