Refugio GNOME Model: Hindcast of Shoreline Oiling from 2015 Spill

A NOAA GNOME model hindcast representing particles of oil reaching the shoreline from the May 2015 Refugio State Beach pipeline spill. The spill released an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara County, California. The dataset was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil particle dispersion and shoreline contamination based on the described GNOME hindcast.
• Assessing environmental degradation for restoration planning based on the described spill impacts.
• Supporting hazards management and mitigation strategies for coastal oil spills based on the described event.

Strengths

• Model is based on a specific, documented event: the May 19, 2015 Refugio State Beach pipeline spill.
• Data originates from the authoritative National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Last update timestamp is explicitly provided: 2026-03-13 22:31:01.068898.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Available file formats are PDF and HTML, which may not be directly machine-readable for analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

GNOME (General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment) modeled hindcast of oil particles.

Time Range

Related to the May 19, 2015 spill event.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:31:01.068898; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Santa Barbara County, California, USA, specifically near Refugio State Beach and the Pacific Ocean.