NOAA Ship Researcher XBT Temperature Profiles, North Atlantic 1986

From 19 June 1986 to 11 July 1986, temperature-depth profiles were collected via expendable bathythermograph (XBT) and bathythermograph (BT) casts from the NOAA Ship RESEARCHER in the North Atlantic Ocean. The data were processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the Universal Bathythermograph Output (UBT) format, which records temperature at non-uniform 'inflection points' to capture the profile curve efficiently. This dataset provides a snapshot of ocean thermal structure from a specific cruise, useful for historical oceanographic analysis.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical thermal structure in the North Atlantic based on paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific 1986 cruise using recorded position and time data.
• Comparing inflection-point temperature recording methods against uniform-depth interpolation outputs.
• Calibrating or validating ocean models with in-situ temperature profile data from XBT instruments.

Strengths

• Data covers a specific, well-documented three-week cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean.
• Processed to a documented standard format (NODC UBT) with available specification.
• Instrument capabilities are explicitly described, with standard XBTs reaching 450-760m and special instruments to 1830m.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: row count, file size, column names, and license are unknown.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates between platforms (1986 vs. 2026) create uncertainty about provenance.
• Documentation is referenced externally, requiring users to visit a separate NODC website for full format details.

Provenance

Source

National Ocean Service (NOS), Miami, Florida; processed by NODC.

Collection Method

Collected using XBT and BT casts from NOAA Ship RESEARCHER.

Time Range

1986-06-19 to 1986-07-11

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:13:51.779868 (from datagov, though this may be a metadata refresh date)

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean