Moisture profiles measured in the dry beach at Pensacola Beach, Florida 2010-2011

Moisture profiles were measured by collecting sediment samples from the surface down to 50 cm depth in 5 cm depth increments. The moisture measurements took place from July 2010 to June 2011. After excavating 1 m deep trenches normal to the water line, small pre-weighed glass jars (125 ml) were inserted horizontally into the wall of the trench at 5 cm depth intervals in order to collect a sediment sample. The glass jars were closed with as little headspace as possible with a gastight lid and transported to the lab where the moisture content was determined. For this assessment, the glass jar with moist sand was weighed and then the jar with sand was placed in a drying oven for 72 h at a temperature of 60 C. After drying, the jar was reweighed and the sediment was quantitatively removed and the weight of the jar was reweighed. The moisture content of the sediment was determined from the weight loss after drying. This dataset supports the publication: Huettel, M., Overholt, W.A., Kostka, J.E., Hagan, C., Kaba, J., Wells, W.B., & Dudley, S. (2018). Degradation of Deepwater Horizon oil buried in a Florida beach influenced by tidal pumping. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 126, 488-500. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.061