Historical Gulf of Mexico Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles

Mechanical bathythermograph data from the R/V Alaminos cruise in July 1969, capturing temperature-depth profiles of the Gulf of Mexico's upper ocean layers. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format, contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals. This data provides a snapshot of the thermal structure from a specific three-week period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical sea surface temperature conditions in the Gulf of Mexico using cruise date and position data.
• Investigating short-term temperature variability during July 1969 using time-stamped profile data.
• Benchmarking or validating models of upper ocean heat content for the specified region and time period.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard format (NODC C128) ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides specific temporal coverage for a focused study period from 1969-07-12 to 1969-07 29.
• Measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Platforms disagree on the 'last updated' metadata, with dates ranging from 1969-07-29 to 2026-03-06.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from NODC.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the R/V Alaminos cruise.

Time Range

1969-07-12 to 1969-07-29

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:23:53.703756

Geography

Gulf of Mexico