Baseline site characteristics and seasonal water quality variability in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana from September and July of 2015 and 2016

In an effort to understand the response and recovery of benthic microbial assemblages in sediments in response to the Deep Water Horizon oil spill, we embarked on an intensive field survey in the Chandeleur Islands, an area heavily impacted by the spill. Field sites were selected representing an oiling gradient based on NOAA SCAT surveys over a range of habitats, including salt marsh, un-vegetated sand, and seagrass meadows. This dataset presents the water quality measurements taken during June and September 2015 and 2016 to encompass seasonal variability and establish baseline conditions to build other projects on.