Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from American Bay, 1966

March 19 to April 23, 1966, this dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations from the American Bay in the North and South Atlantic Oceans. It provides processed temperature-depth profile pairs at uniform 5-meter intervals, useful for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. The data was collected by NOAA NCEI and processed into the NODC standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal gradient in the upper 285m of the ocean using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying seasonal warming or cooling trends in the Atlantic Ocean during spring 1966.
• Correlating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions with recorded date, position, and time for each observation.
• Calibrating or validating models of upper ocean heat content based on historical in-situ measurements.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot from a specific cruise spanning over a month in 1966.
• Records temperature at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis of the water column.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to the upper ocean (max ~285m depth), excluding deeper thermal processes.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and license information are unavailable from the provided sources.
• The last updated date conflicts between platforms (2026 vs 1966), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC to the C128 standard format.

Time Range

1966-03-19 to 1966-04-23

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:21:51.591019

Geography

American Bay in the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean.