North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from A. E. VERRILL Cruise

North Atlantic Ocean temperature-depth profiles were collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) from the A. E. VERRILL research vessel between September 15 and 18, 1970. The data, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, consists of paired temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals. These observations are limited to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, focusing on the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean during a specific cruise period.
• Studying historical sea surface temperature and subsurface temperature gradients.
• Validating or calibrating oceanographic models for the North Atlantic region using point-in-time profile data.
• Investigating short-term (multi-day) temperature variability at a fixed depth interval of 5 meters.

Strengths

• Data is standardized in the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistency for historical comparison.
• Provides precise temporal (1970-09-15 to 1970-09-18) and geographic (North Atlantic Ocean) context for each observation.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform and fine 5-meter depth resolution.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters restricts analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026-04-01 on Data.gov vs. 1970-09-18 on NASA EarthData).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from the A. E. VERRILL research cruise.

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements, processed by NODC.

Time Range

1970-09-15 to 1970-09-18

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:29:10.805781

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean