Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Quality-Controlled Environmental Chemistry Analyses

Four data files contain water, sediment, tissue, and tar/oil analyses from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill event response phase from April 2010 to June 2011. This dataset represents the culmination of a quality-control process overseen by NOAA, synthesizing data from federal agencies, state environmental managers, and BP contractors. It supersedes earlier collections from the EPA Scribe system, having been transferred to NOAA's Query Manager system for final evaluation.

Use Cases

• Assessing hydrocarbon contamination in marine water based on water chemistry analyses.
• Evaluating sediment pollution and its persistence based on sediment chemistry analyses.
• Studying bioaccumulation of oil-related compounds in marine organisms based on tissue analyses.
• Characterizing the chemical composition of spilled oil and tar residues based on tar/oil analyses.
• Comparing environmental data quality between the EPA Scribe and NOAA Query Manager systems.

Strengths

• Dataset is the product of a formal quality-control process overseen by NOAA.
• Data is sourced from multiple authoritative entities, including federal agencies and BP contractors.
• Contains analyses across four distinct environmental matrices: water, sediment, tissue, and tar/oil.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in any source.
• Exact row counts and file sizes are unknown.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata between sources (2011 vs. 2026).

Provenance

Source

Federal agencies, state environmental management agencies, and BP and its contractors, aggregated by NOAA.

Collection Method

Data was originally uploaded to the EPA Scribe system, then transferred to NOAA's Query Manager system for final evaluation and extraction.

Time Range

2010-04 to 2011-06

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:02:55.396058

Geography

Gulf of Mexico