huffingtonpost.com | The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hoarding vast amounts of raw data that independent marine researchers say could help both the public and scientists better understand the extent of the damage being caused by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In most cases, NOAA insists on putting the data through a ponderous, many-weeks-long vetting process before making it public.

In other cases, NOAA actually intended to keep the data secret indefinitely. But officials told the Huffington Post on Tuesday that they have now decided to release it -- though when remains unclear.

BP, incidentally, gets to see all this data right away.

At issue are test results from a series of research missions conducted by NOAA or NOAA-sponsored ships exploring the extent and effect of oil beneath the surface of the Gulf. Due to the leak's depth and the unprecedented use of dispersants, much of the oil is thought to have spread in gigantic undersea plumes, potentially adding a huge, so-far mostly invisible toll to the devastation so obviously manifesting itself along the nation's Gulf shore.

Despite early urgent warnings from independent scientists that oil suspended in the water column is likely killing wide swaths of sea life in the short run -- and possibly endangering marine animals and coastlines for decades to come -- NOAA was slow to send out research vessels to probe the extent of the problem, and even slower to confirm it.

NOAA eventually sent out a half dozen ships packed with scientists, on back-to-back research missions. But the only detailed results so far made public were collected during a single mission that ended in late May -- almost two months ago. And some data -- including from the very first research vessel to take underwater tests, the Jack Fitz -- wasn't slated to be released at all, because it's part of what NOAA calls its Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA).