Historical Bathythermograph Temperature Profiles from the Western Pacific

East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea data comprises historical mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) measurements collected during the BAUER cruises from June 1958 to October 1959. The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) processed the data into its standard C128 format, which provides temperature-depth profile pairs at uniform 5-meter intervals down to approximately 285 meters. This dataset captures the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers during a specific historical period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical upper-ocean temperature stratification using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal or spatial thermal variability in the East China Sea using cruise, date, and position data.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model hindcasts for the 1958-1959 period with instrument-specific profile data.
• Investigating the mixed layer depth dynamics from temperature profiles recorded at 5-meter intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot (1958-1959) from a specific set of research cruises.
• Includes core metadata for each observation: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Cross-platform conflict: The last updated date is reported as 2026-04-01 on Data.gov but 1959-10 23 on NASA EarthData, creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to C128 format.

Time Range

1958-06-13 to 1959-10-23

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:29:28.773402

Geography

East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South China Sea