Refugio Oil Spill Wildlife Overflight Track Line from May 21, 2015

NOAA and partners investigated the environmental impacts of a 21,000-gallon oil spill near Refugio State Beach in May 2015. This layer represents the overflight trackline used to search for wildlife presence within the spill area on May 21st, 2015. The data was published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Use Cases

• Map the spatial extent of initial wildlife surveys based on the described overflight trackline.
• Analyze the relationship between the spill location and observed wildlife presence based on the described survey method.
• Support environmental impact assessments and restoration planning based on the described oil spill event and investigation.

Strengths

• Specific event date (May 21, 2015) and location (Refugio Beach, California) are provided.
• Authoritative source from NOAA, Department of Commerce.
• Describes a concrete environmental incident with a quantified spill volume (21,000 gallons).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to a single event survey.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely collected via aerial survey overflight.

Time Range

May 21, 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:30:37.064736; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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