Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from USNS Barrett

Bathythermograph (MBT) data from USNS BARRETT in the North Pacific Ocean from 1966-07-20 to 1966-08-13. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. This data documents the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles for the upper ocean layers.
• Studying the spatial and temporal variability of sea surface temperature and sub-surface thermal structure during a specific 1966 cruise.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to correlate oceanographic conditions with specific locations and periods.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known NODC standard format (C128), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific research cruise from July 20 to August 13, 1966.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Key metadata such as column names, row count, file size, and license are unavailable from the provided sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata: one platform reports 2026-03-05, while another reports the original data date of 1966-08 13.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments aboard the USNS BARRETT and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1966-07-20 to 1966-08-13

Freshness

2026 03 05 23:46:20.250465

Geography

North Pacific Ocean