Oceanus Cruise 34: High-Resolution CTD/STD Ocean Profiles

NCEI Accession 8400047 contains CTD and STD data from R/V OCEANUS Cruise 34, which took place from September 22 to October 3, 1977. The data were received from Dr. Carl Wunsch at MIT and processed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution into the NODC standard High-Resolution F022 format. The dataset provides nearly continuous vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, density, and other parameters at depth intervals as fine as 1 meter, along with station metadata and environmental conditions.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical structure of temperature and salinity based on high-resolution CTD casts.
• Studying historical oceanographic conditions during a specific 1977 cruise in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Calculating derived water properties like density (sigma-t) from the provided conductivity, temperature, and depth measurements.
• Investigating relationships between surface meteorological conditions and subsurface water properties using the reported environmental data.

Strengths

• Data is in a standardized, high-resolution format (NODC F022) with profiles potentially at 1-meter intervals.
• Dataset has a precise temporal scope (September 22 - October 3, 1977) and is associated with a specific research cruise (R/V OCEANUS 34).
• Provenance is clearly documented, originating from MIT and processed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing or conflicting: row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.
• The dataset is historical (from 1977), which may limit its relevance for studying contemporary ocean conditions.
• Data values may have been subject to averaging, filtering, or interpolation, as noted in the format description.

Provenance

Source

Dr. Carl Wunsch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, via the CTD processing group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Collection Method

Collected using CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) and STD (salinity-temperature-depth) instruments during R/V OCEANUS Cruise 34.

Time Range

1977-09-22 to 1977-10-03

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:26:06.184603

Geography

Atlantic Ocean (inferred from cruise location and tags)