Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the Tasman Sea

Temperature-depth profiles from the Tasman Sea collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) aboard the BLACKPOOL from November 4 to 26, 1969. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), consists of paired temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals. It is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper 285 meters of the Tasman Sea.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in a specific ocean region during late 1969.
• Correlating temperature profiles with recorded cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.
• Using the standardized C128 format data for historical comparisons of upper ocean heat content.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a 22-day cruise in November 1969.
• Records temperature at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1969-11-26 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC to the C128 standard format.

Time Range

1969-11-04 to 1969-11-26

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:47:33.902521

Geography

Tasman Sea, from the BLACKPOOL cruise.