Historical Bathythermograph Data from North Atlantic Ocean Cruises

Bathythermograph data records temperature-depth profiles from the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The dataset contains observations from the vessels DELAWARE and USCGC BEAR in the North Atlantic Ocean, spanning from February 1955 to October 1967. Data was processed and standardized by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles at uniform 5-meter intervals up to 285 meters.
• Studying the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers in the North Atlantic over a multi-year period.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed oceanographic conditions.
• Investigating decadal-scale changes in near-surface ocean temperatures from the mid-20th century.

Strengths

• Covers a long time range of over 12 years (1955-1967).
• Data is standardized to a known NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides paired temperature-depth values at uniform depth intervals, facilitating time-series analysis.

Limitations

• Row count, total size, and specific column names are unknown from all sources.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata between platforms (2026 vs 1967) creates uncertainty about provenance timeliness.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), processed by NODC.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments during research cruises.

Time Range

1955-02-01 to 1967-10-12

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:12:57.668067

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean