California Coastal CTD and XBT Oceanographic Data from 1980

This dataset contains Current, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) and bathythermograph (XBT) measurements collected during a 17-day oceanographic cruise in June 1980. The Naval Postgraduate School gathered the data aboard the ship Acania to study the upwelling center off Point Sur, California. Processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), it is available in two standard oceanographic formats.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical temperature and salinity profiles from CTD casts to model water column structure.
• Studying the spatial and temporal characteristics of coastal upwelling off California using point measurements.
• Calibrating or validating regional ocean models with in-situ historical data from a focused campaign.
• Examining ocean current data in relation to bathymetric features at selected 5-meter depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data collection followed a systematic protocol with measurements at selected depths at 5-meter intervals.
• The dataset has been processed and formatted by a major national data center (NODC), ensuring standardization.
• It provides high-resolution CTD data alongside bathythermograph (XBT) data for cross-verification.

Limitations

• The exact row count, file size, and complete column schema are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, with one listing 2026-03 05 and another the original collection end date of 1980-06-19.
• License and author details are not specified, limiting clarity on reuse permissions.

Provenance

Source

Naval Postgraduate School, submitted by Dr. Christopher N.K. Mooers, processed by NODC.

Collection Method

Collected via ship-based CTD casts and expendable bathythermograph (XBT) deployments.

Time Range

1980-06-02 to 1980-06-19

Freshness

1980-06 19 00:00:00

Geography

Coastal Waters of California, specifically the upwelling center off Point Sur.