Eastward Cruise Oceanographic Data from 1971-1972

NOAA NCEI provides ocean station and bathythermograph data collected by the EASTWARD vessel in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains physical-chemical measurements from discrete depth levels, processed into NODC standard formats C100 and C128. Observations span from December 31, 1971 to May 6, 1972.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temperature-depth profiles in the upper ocean (up to 285m) using MBT (C128) data.
• Studying vertical distributions of salinity, dissolved oxygen, and nutrients from ocean station (C100) casts.
• Investigating correlations between meteorological conditions (e.g., air temperature, wind) and subsurface ocean properties.
• Calculating derived oceanographic parameters like density (sigma-t) and sound velocity from measured temperature and salinity.
• Examining spatial patterns of water transparency (Secchi disk) and color (Forel-Ule scale) across the cruise track.

Strengths

• Data is processed to established NODC standard formats (C100 and C128), ensuring consistency.
• Includes both directly measured parameters and derived values like density and dynamic depth anomaly.
• Covers a specific five-month cruise with documented geographic scope (Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic).
• Approximately 5% of observations use early electronic CTD/STD recorders, providing higher-resolution data points.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and complete column list are unavailable from all sources.
• MBT data is limited to the upper ocean (max ~285m depth), restricting analysis of full water column.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2026-03-05 vs. 1972-05-06), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), from NODC processing.

Collection Method

Observations from multi-bottle Nansen casts, other water samplers, and some early CTD/STD recorders on the EASTWARD cruise.

Time Range

1971-12 31 to 1972-05-06

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:33:18.376113

Geography

Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean