Refugio Beach Oil Spill Aerial Extent Map, May-June 2015

An estimated 21,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean near Refugio State Beach, California, on May 19, 2015. This layer from NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration represents the estimated areal extent of oiling, created by buffering point observations from aerial overflights during the response. The data covers observations from May 21 to June 3, 2015.

Use Cases

• Modeling the spatial spread of marine oil contamination based on aerial observation points.
• Assessing environmental damage for restoration planning based on the estimated oiling extent.
• Training geospatial models for oil spill trajectory prediction based on historical response data.

Strengths

• Data is derived from direct aerial observations during the active spill response.
• Specific temporal coverage from May 21 to June 3, 2015, is provided.
• Originates from NOAA, a primary authority for environmental and oceanic data.

Limitations

• The 500-meter buffer is an estimation method; actual oil extent may differ.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is static for a historical event; freshness is not applicable for ongoing monitoring.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Point observations from aerial overflights buffered at 500 meters to create areal extent.

Time Range

May 21 to June 3, 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:30:24.279275; represents a historical event.

Geography

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