Bathythermograph Data from BOREAS Expedition 1943-1945

Bathythermograph (MBT) data from the BOREAS expedition provides temperature-depth profiles for the upper ocean layers. The dataset covers observations from the Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Solomon Sea, and South Pacific Ocean. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical sea surface temperature and upper ocean thermal structure using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying spatial and temporal variability of ocean temperature in the Pacific region from cruise, date, and position data.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations for the 1940s using instrument-specific profile data.
• Researching oceanographic conditions during World War II from data collected between 1943 and 1945.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure for temperature-depth pairs.
• Provides a focused temporal record of over two and a half years, from April 1943 to December 1945.
• Spatial coverage includes multiple specific ocean basins: Coral Sea, North Pacific, Solomon Sea, and South Pacific.

Limitations

• Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean layers.
• Key metadata conflicts: row count, column names, and exact data size are unknown across all sources.
• Data freshness is unclear; one source lists a 2026 update while another references the 1945 collection date.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Processed by NODC from mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument readings to the C128 format.

Time Range

1943-04-02 to 1945-12-22

Freshness

2026-04-01 14:53:22.304717

Geography

Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Solomon Sea, South Pacific Ocean