BALD EAGLE XBT Temperature Profiles in the North Atlantic

Bathythermograph (XBT) data from the vessel BALD EAGLE provides temperature-depth profiles for the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset covers a specific cruise from September 18 to October 14, 1968, and was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C116 format. This format records temperature at non-uniform inflection points to define the ocean's thermal structure.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical ocean temperature structure from non-uniform depth measurements.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the North Atlantic during a specific autumn period.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model outputs against in-situ profile data.
• Researching data processing methods for expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented NODC standard format (C116/C118).
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific research cruise (1968 09 18 to 1968 10 14).
• Records temperature at inflection points, optimizing data to define the temperature curve.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and file size are unavailable from all sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date: datagov reports 2026-04, while nasa_earthdata reports 1968-10-14.
• The dataset's license information is not provided.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data gathered using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments from the vessel BALD EAGLE and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1968-09-18 to 1968-10-14

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:12:27.988032

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean