Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from ATHABASKAN Cruise

ATHABASKAN collected 285-meter-deep mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data in the North Pacific Ocean on July 1, 1950. The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) processed the data into the standard C128 format, which records temperature-depth value pairs at uniform 5-meter intervals. This dataset provides a snapshot of the upper ocean's thermal structure from a single mid-20th century cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper 285 meters of the North Pacific.
• Studying the thermal structure of the ocean's surface layer for a specific historical date and location.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to contextualize historical oceanographic observations.
• Comparing temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at 5-meter intervals against modern measurements.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Maximum observation depth is precisely defined as approximately 285 meters.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform depth intervals of 5 meters, facilitating analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset contains only a single day of observations (1950-07-01), offering no temporal range.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one source lists a last updated date of 2026-04-01, while another lists 1950-07-01, creating uncertainty about provenance timeliness.
• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the vessel ATHABASKAN and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1950-07-01 to 1950-07-01

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:22:12.763568

Geography

North Pacific Ocean.