Shipboard XBT Data: 1,884 Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1994

1,884 bathythermograph (XBT) drops were collected between May 25 and December 24, 1994 as part of the SEAS III program. The data was transmitted from over twenty different ships to the National Ocean Service in Rockville, MD, and submitted by Chris Noe to the National Oceanographic Data Center. This accession contains 32 files of environmental data from the Shipboard Environmental data Acquisition System.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical ocean temperature profiles based on bathythermograph (XBT) data.
• Studying seasonal temperature changes in 1994 based on the seven-month collection period.
• Modeling ocean heat content based on pressure and water temperature data.
• Validating satellite-derived sea surface temperature data based on in-situ shipboard measurements.

Strengths

• Contains data from 1,884 individual XBT drops, providing a substantial sample size.
• Covers a specific seven-month period from May to December 1994, offering seasonal context.
• Data was collected from over twenty different ships, suggesting broad spatial coverage.

Limitations

• Last updated 1994-12-24 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Collected via Shipboard Environmental data Acquisition System (SEAS) III program and transmitted via telecommunication.

Time Range

1994-05-25 to 1994-12-24

Freshness

1994-12-24 00:00:00

Geography

Likely covers areas traversed by the over twenty different ships used in the SEAS III program.