Historical North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from AMETHYST

North Pacific Ocean bathythermograph data from the AMETHYST cruise, covering a 13-month period from September 1944 to October 1945. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format. It is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal or temporal changes in near-surface ocean temperature from 1944 to 1945.
• Correlating cruise position and time data with observed temperature profiles for spatial analysis.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides a specific 13-month time series (1944-09-18 to 1945-10-20) from a single research cruise.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating comparative analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts: row count, column names, file size, and license are unknown across all sources.
• Instrument limitation: Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) data is only useful for the upper ocean, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• The dataset's age (1944-1945) may limit direct comparison with modern, higher-resolution instruments.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles obtained using the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1944-09 18 to 1945-10-20

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:50:10.509698

Geography

North Pacific Ocean