North Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Station Data from Canadian and US Vessels (1966-1970)

North Atlantic and North Pacific Ocean data from Canadian platforms and the USNS Kane, collected between August 1966 and December 1970. The dataset contains ocean station (C100) and mechanical bathythermograph (C128) profiles processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). It includes discrete depth measurements of temperature, salinity, and other chemical parameters, with some derived and meteorological variables.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles in the upper 285 meters using the MBT (C128) data.
• Studying vertical distributions of salinity, dissolved oxygen, and nutrients (e.g., phosphate, silicate) from ocean station (C100) casts.
• Investigating correlations between surface meteorological conditions (air temperature, pressure, wind) and subsurface oceanographic measurements.
• Calculating derived oceanographic properties like density (sigma-t) and sound velocity from measured temperature and salinity data.
• Examining spatial and temporal patterns of water transparency (Secchi depth) and color (Forel-Ule scale) across the survey regions.

Strengths

• Data spans a multi-year time range from 1966-08 16 to 1970-12-22, providing a multi-seasonal snapshot.
• Includes both directly measured parameters (temperature, salinity) and derived variables (density, sound velocity) calculated to standard formats.
• Contains observations from two distinct ocean basins, the North Atlantic and North Pacific.
• Approximately 5% of station data originates from early electronic CTD/STD recorders, offering higher-resolution profiles for that subset.

Limitations

• Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data is limited to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact platform identifiers are unavailable from the provided sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one platform showing 2026-04-01 (likely a placeholder) and another showing the end of the data collection period (1970-12-22).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce, via the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Observations from ship-based multi-bottle Nansen casts, other water samplers, mechanical bathythermographs (MBT), and a small number of early CTD/STD recorders, processed into standard NODC C100 and C128 formats.

Time Range

1966-08-16 to 1970-12-22

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:10:55.287847

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean.