MBT Temperature-Depth Profiles from Gulf of Mexico Cruise 1969

Temperature-depth profile data collected using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) from the R/V Alaminos in the Gulf of Mexico. The dataset contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. Observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the Gulf of Mexico's upper ocean for late January 1969.
• Studying short-term thermal variability over a four-day cruise period using paired temperature-depth values.
• Calibrating or validating models of upper ocean heat content based on instrument-specific MBT data.
• Investigating historical oceanographic conditions from a specific research vessel (ALAMINOS) cruise.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format).
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific cruise from 1969-01-28 to 1969-01-31.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a consistent, uniform depth interval of 5 meters.
• Includes core metadata for each observation: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The exact number of rows, columns, and file size is unknown across all sources.
• Observations are limited to a maximum depth of ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026-03-05 vs. 1969-01 31).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), collected from R/V Alaminos.

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1969-01-28 to 1969-01-31

Freshness

2026-03 05 22:57:05.749480

Geography

Gulf of Mexico