The Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Gulf Ecosystems (C-IMAGE) was a research consortium of 19 U.S. and international partners focused on effects of oil spills on marine environments. The C-IMAGE consortium completed an unprecedented study of the Deepwater Horizon blowout of 2010 through funding from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI). The overarching objective of C-IMAGE was to advance understanding of marine blowouts as response agencies and production companies were underprepared to deal with the unique challenges of Deepwater Horizon. Data is made freely available to ensure society is better prepared to mitigate any future occurrences.
Projects from C-IMAGE I included ecosystem modeling based on biological, chemical, and physical data sets, marine resource assessments of ichthyoplankton, fish, and marine mammals, oil and dispersant toxicology, simulating high-pressure environments and their effects on fluids, and sediment analysis of oil-affected areas of the sea floor.
C-IMAGE II focused on Six Tasks covering a range of research areas including deep-ocean environments, sediment deposition, and plankton and fish species toxicity.
C-IMAGE III focused on GoMRI Research Themes 2 and 3: chemical evolution and biological degradation of the petroleum/dispersant systems and subsequent interaction with coastal, open-ocean, and deep-water ecosystems (Theme 2); and environmental effects of the petroleum/dispersant system on the sea floor, water column, coastal waters, beach sediments, wetlands, marshes, and organisms; and the science of ecosystem recovery (Theme 3).
The University of South Florida served as the host institution for C-IMAGE under the direction of Principle Investigator Dr. Steven Murawski, Assistant Director Sherryl Gilbert and Chief Science Officer Dr. David Hollander. The data in this repository contains the work of USF researchers. To view data from across GRIIDC’s research groups, please visit GRIIDC’s dataset monitoring webpage.
Submissions from 2023
Marine benthic invertebrate data obtained aboard R/V Weatherbird II (WB0517) from 2017-05-13 to 2017-05-23 on the northwest insular slope of Cuba, Paul A. Montagna and Samantha Schiereck
Dataset for: A Coupled Lagrangian-Earth System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation, Claire B. Paris, Ana C. Vaz, and Robin Faillettaz
Ensemble of Deepwater Horizon 2010 oil spill simulations using the oil-CMS model to estimate surface oil concentrations and sedimented oil mass, Natalie Perlin
Submissions from 2022
Deepwater Horizon oil spill simulations using Connectivity Modeling System: Daily oil mass and concentrations on a spatio-temporal 4-D grid, surface oil concentrations, non-gridded sedimented oil mass, Claire Paris and Natalie Perlin
Submissions from 2021
Sediment texture and composition data collected aboard the R/V Weatherbird II cruise WB-0717 in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2017-07-19 to 2017-07-20, Gregg R. Brooks and Rebekka A. Larson
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) data from phytoplankton collected aboard R/V Weatherbird II and R/V Bellows cruises in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and west Florida shelf from 2010-07-10 to 2014-08-11, Kendra Daly and Jack DiTullio
Dataset for: Bubble Plume Integral Model for Line-Source Diffusers in Ambient Stratification, Anusha Dissanayake
Sensitivity analysis runs of the Texas A&M Oil spill Calculator (TAMOC) model, Anusha L. Dissanayake
Dataset for: Cetacean distribution models based on visual and passive acoustic data, Kaitlin E. Frasier, Lance P. Garrison, Melissa S. Soldevilla, Sean M. Wiggins, and John A. Hildebrand
Research version of the Texas A&M Oil spill / Outfall Calculator (TAMOC) and input files for simulation of laboratory pressure vessel experiments, Jonas Gros, J. Samuel Arey, Scott A. Socolofsky, and Anusha L. Dissanayake
Microcosm: Bacterial communities growing on different crude oils exposed to light, Erika Headrick, Lisa Nigro, and Wade Jeffrey
Gulf of Mexico toothed whale passive acoustic detections, 2010-10-21 to 2017-05-17, John A. Hildebrand, Kaitlin E. Frasier, and Sean M. Wiggins
Total organic matter, benthic foraminifera and grain-size of sediment cores collected aboard multiple research cruises in the Gulf of Mexico from 2015-08-01 to 2018-05-22, Bryan J. O'Malley, Patrick T. Schwing, Michael Martinez-Colon, Silvia Spezzaferri, Gregg Brooks, Rebekka Larson, Maria Machain-Castillo, and Ana Carolina Ruiz-Fernandez
Distribution of oil concentration and oil mass in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill simulated by the Connectivity Modeling System (CMS) using two-phase droplet and internal degassing parameterizations, Claire B. Paris, Natalie Perlin, and Ana C. Vaz
Red snapper data caught in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic between 2005-01-01 and 2016-08-31, David Portnoy
Population genomic dataset of Gafftopsail Catfish obtained aboard several vessels including the R/V Weatherbird II, WB1603, in the Gulf of Mexico from 2015-09-21 to 2017-09-03, David Portnoy and Shannon O'Leary
Measurements of Legacy and alternative per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in pelagic fishes collected aboard the R/V Weatherbird II (WB1810) of the Gulf of Mexico from 2018-08-15 to 2019-03-01, Erin Pulster and Steven Murawski
Dataset for: The effect of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on two ecosystem services in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, Melissa Rohal, Cameron Ainsworth, Brach Lupher, Paul A. Montagna, Claire Paris-Limouzy, Natalie Perlin, Paul Mark Suprenand, and David Yoskowitz
Dataset for: Ciliate microzooplankton from the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico, Richard A. Snyder, Joseph A. Moss, and Wade H. Jeffrey
Submissions from 2020
Photographs of sediment cores collected aboard R/V Weatherbird II cruises WB-0717 and WB-1217 in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2017-07-19 to 2017-12-05, Gregg R. Brooks and Rebekka A. Larson
Dataset for: Natural and anthropogenic oil impacts on benthic foraminifera in the southern Gulf of Mexico, Maria Luisa Machain Castillo
Shadowed Image Particle Profiling Evaluation Recorder (SIPPER) plankton and marine snow abundance and distribution data collected aboard multiple research cruises in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from 2010-05-12 to 2010-09-16, Kendra L. Daly, Andrew W. Remsen, and Kurt Kramer