Wildlife Observations from the 2015 Refugio Beach Oil Spill

Wildlife observations were recorded in the marine environment near Refugio State Beach, California, on May 26, 2015, following a pipeline rupture. The data was collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its partners to investigate the impacts of an estimated 21,000-gallon oil spill. This layer represents the observed conditions on a single day during the incident response.

Use Cases

• Map the spatial distribution of observed wildlife based on the geospatial layer description
• Assess initial environmental impact severity based on wildlife observations mentioned in the description
• Support restoration planning by documenting baseline conditions from the time of the spill

Strengths

• Data is tied to a specific, well-documented environmental incident on May 19, 2015.
• The data source is a U.S. federal agency (NOAA) with expertise in environmental response.
• The dataset has a specific geographic focus on the Refugio Beach Oil Spill area.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is from a single observation day (May 26, 2015), providing a snapshot rather than time-series.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Observations collected by NOAA and state and federal partners during spill response.

Time Range

May 26, 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:30:23.007488; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Refugio Beach Oil Spill area, Santa Barbara County, California, USA