Historical North Pacific Ocean Temperature-Depth Profiles

Mechanical bathythermograph data captures temperature-depth profiles from the upper 285 meters of the North Pacific Ocean. Collected during the ATLAS cruise from September 20 to 24, 1955, this dataset provides a snapshot of the ocean's thermal structure. The National Oceanographic Data Center processed the data into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanographic variability during a specific cruise period using date, position, and time columns.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean models with temperature data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Investigating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions in the North Pacific using reported cruise information.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with a specific 5-day cruise period and North Pacific location.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating comparative analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata like row count, column names, and license are unknown across all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• The dataset represents a very narrow temporal window (5 days in 1955), limiting long-term trend analysis.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the ATLAS cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1955-09-20 to 1955-09-24

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:39:25.911791

Geography

North Pacific Ocean.