Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from ARNEB Cruises

Temperature-depth profile data collected using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments during ARNEB cruises. The dataset covers nine ocean regions, including the Caribbean Sea and Southern Ocean, over a nearly five-year period from April 1956 to February 1961. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying spatial patterns of sea surface temperature across nine ocean basins using reported position data.
• Investigating temporal changes in upper-ocean heat content from 1956 to 1961 using date and time stamps.
• Correlating cruise information with specific temperature-depth profiles for expedition-based research.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure.
• Covers a wide geographic scope across nine major ocean regions.
• Provides a multi-year time series from 1956 to 1961 for temporal analysis.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals for comparability.

Limitations

• Instrument maximum depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and license are unavailable across all sources.
• The last updated date conflicts between platforms (2026 vs. 1961), creating uncertainty about provenance updates.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Processed by NODC from Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument readings.

Time Range

1956-04-15 to 1961-02-15

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:33:54.518649

Geography

Caribbean Sea, Great Australian Bight, Indian Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean, Tasman Sea