USCGC Androscoggin Bathythermograph Profiles in the North Atlantic

NOAA NCEI provides mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by the USCGC ANDROSCOGGIN in the North Atlantic Ocean between November 1960 and November 1961. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. It documents the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal temperature variations in the upper North Atlantic using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical ocean heat content changes by examining temperature profiles from a specific time period.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model outputs for the early 1960s using in-situ temperature observations.
• Mapping the thermal structure of the upper ocean layer (down to ~285m) for a specific vessel cruise track.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage from 1960-11-01 to 1961-11-23 for a continuous research period.
• Includes core metadata for each observation: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for studying the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Sources disagree on the last updated date: one platform reports 2026-03-05, while another reports the original data end date of 1961-11-23.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the USCGC ANDROSCOGGIN and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1960-11-01 to 1961-11-23

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:11:28.993514

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean