Historical Upper-Ocean Temperature Profiles from USS BUCK

1951-04-04 to 1961-06-22 temperature-depth profiles from the USS BUCK, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). The dataset covers seven regions in the Pacific and adjacent seas, focusing on the upper 285 meters of the ocean with measurements at uniform 5-meter intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying regional oceanographic variability across the Coral Sea, East China Sea, and other western Pacific regions.
• Investigating historical ocean conditions using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating models of upper-ocean heat content for the mid-20th century.

Strengths

• Covers a decade-long time series from 1951 to 1961.
• Data is standardized in the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides spatial coverage across seven distinct ocean regions in the Pacific.

Limitations

• Row count, column names, and exact data size are unknown.
• Instrument limitation: maximum depth is approximately 285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Conflicting last updated dates: datagov lists 2026-03 05, while nasa_earthdata lists the final data date of 1961-06-22.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from USS BUCK.

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1951-04-04 to 1961-06-22

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:43:20.254395

Geography

Coral Sea, East China Sea, Japan Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, South Pacific Ocean.