Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from USNS Barrett Cruise

NOAA NCEI provides mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the USNS Barrett's 1966 cruise. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals up to approximately 285 meters. It covers the North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea over a one-month period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying spatial temperature variations across the North Pacific, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea.
• Investigating short-term ocean temperature changes during a specific 1966 cruise.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature profiles.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128) ensuring consistency.
• Profiles provide uniform 5-meter depth intervals for direct comparison.
• Covers a specific one-month cruise (1966-08 24 to 1966-09-27) with clear temporal boundaries.
• Includes precise geographic coverage across three major ocean regions.

Limitations

• Maximum observation depth is limited to ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and license are unavailable.
• Data is historical (1966) and may not reflect current ocean conditions.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the USNS Barrett and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1966-08-24 to 1966-09-27

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:25:38.895249

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South China Sea