NOAA Ship Malcolm Baldrige Global Ocean Temperature Profiles

Temperature-depth profile data were collected using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) and bathythermograph (BT) casts from the NOAA Ship MALCOLM BALDRIGE across a worldwide distribution from February 3, 1988, to March 31, 1990. The data were processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the Universal Bathythermograph Output (UBT) format, which records temperature-depth value pairs at non-uniform 'inflection points' to accurately capture the temperature curve. This dataset provides ocean temperature profiles for standard XBTs reaching depths of about 450 or 760 meters, with special instruments capable of measurements to 1830 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ocean heat content changes based on temperature-depth profiles.
• Studying vertical thermal structure and ocean mixing processes using inflection point data.
• Calibrating and validating oceanographic models with in-situ temperature measurements.
• Investigating global ocean temperature trends from the late 1980s.

Strengths

• Provides a precise temporal range from February 1988 to March 1990.
• Offers detailed measurement methodology, specifying XBT standard depths (~450m, ~760m) and extended capability (to 1830m).
• Processed to a documented standard format (NODC UBT) with available format description.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The dataset's last update date conflicts between sources (1990-03-31 vs. 2026-04-01), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• Documentation is referenced externally, which may be a barrier if the link is broken.

Provenance

Source

National Ocean Service (NOS), Rockville; processed by National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Data collected using XBT and BT casts from NOAA Ship MALCOLM BALDRIGE.

Time Range

1988-02-03 to 1990-03-31

Freshness

1990-03-31 00:00:00

Geography

World-wide distribution.