The physical processes resulting from the passage of severe tropical weather and hurricanes can have a profound impact on circulation, transport of biochemical constituents, water quality, and environmental communities. Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 storm on 25 August 2017. The ocean observing network in the western Gulf of Mexico, comprised of the Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS), autonomous ocean vehicles, and shipboard observations reported oceanographic conditions throughout the summer of 2017.

These include pre-storm conditions, direct storm impact, and post-storm response of the coastal ocean. An unprecedented amount of rainfall, more than 160 km^3 of freshwater, fell on Texas and the continental shelf. As the freshwater moved from the terrestrial to the marine environmental, the freshwater mass and the contaminants contained therein moved downcoast and offshore from Galveston threatening the environmental communities of the Flower Garden Banks and southern habitats and ecosystems near Padre Island, Texas.

Moored, shipboard and autonomous vehicle (e.g., surface and buoyancy gliders) observations of the shelf waters show the vertical and horizontal spatial distribution of freshwater and heat content prior to and following the storm.