Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from XBT Casts

Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Ocean temperature-depth profiles were collected via expendable bathythermograph (XBT) casts from ships like the AFRICAN COMET. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into C116 format, contains non-uniform depth measurements recorded at inflection points to define the temperature curve. Data collection was supported by the US Navy, Ships of Opportunity, and Farrell Lines under a NOAA/NMFS project.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical temperature structure in major ocean basins from 1974-1980.
• Studying temporal changes in sea surface temperature and thermocline depth.
• Validating or calibrating ocean circulation and climate models with historical in-situ data.
• Researching the methodology and data format of legacy NODC XBT (C116) records.

Strengths

• Contains specific instrument data (XBT casts) with potential profiles to 1830 meters.
• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C116) for consistency.
• Covers a multi-year time range from June to November 1974, with one source citing an end date of 1980.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown from all sources.
• Sources conflict on the temporal coverage: one states data ends in November 1974, while another cites November 1980.
• Data freshness is unclear; one platform shows a 2026 metadata update, but the core data is from the 1970s-1980s.

Provenance

Source

US Navy; Ships of Opportunity and Farrell Lines with support from the Gulf of Mexico NOAA/NMFS Ships of Opportunity (SOOP) project.

Collection Method

Temperature profile data collected using XBT casts from ships and processed by NODC to the C116 format.

Time Range

1974-06-06 to 1980-11-12

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:21:53.753225

Geography

Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and other locations.