Global Ocean Temperature and Salinity Profiles from NODC

Ocean profile observations for temperature and salinity collected via Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) and Salinity, Temperature, Depth (STD) instruments. The dataset is provided by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and was last updated in December 1991.

Use Cases

• Analyze vertical temperature profiles to study ocean heat content changes over time.
• Correlate salinity measurements with temperature data to map water mass distributions.
• Use profile location and time data to reconstruct historical oceanographic conditions for model validation.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).
• Contains standardized ocean profile observations from CTD/STD instruments.

Limitations

• Data is low-resolution and its last update was in 1991, indicating potential staleness.
• Specific row count, geographic coverage, and data completeness metrics are unknown.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), provided by SCIOPS via NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

Observations gathered from Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) and Salinity, Temperature, Depth (STD) oceanographic instruments.

Freshness

Last updated 1991-12-31.

Geography

Global ocean coverage implied by NODC source, but specific bounds unknown.