Historical Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from the BAEPENDI Cruise

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data documents ocean temperature-depth profiles collected during the BAEPENDI cruise in February and March 1963. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, focusing on the upper ocean layers. It provides a snapshot of the thermal structure in the North and South Atlantic Ocean from a specific historical period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the North and South Atlantic Ocean during February-March 1963.
• Validating or providing baseline data for ocean model simulations of past climate.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed thermal profiles.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating straightforward vertical analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC to the standard C128 format.

Time Range

1963-02-17 to 1963-03-17

Freshness

2026-04-01 14:52:55.994421

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean.