North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from BULLFINCH Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles collected using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) from the BULLFINCH vessel in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset covers a 13-month period from July 1965 to July 1966 and was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. It consists of pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, suitable for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal temperature changes in the North Atlantic from 1965 to 1966 using cruise date and location data.
• Validating or supplementing historical ocean model reanalyses with in-situ bathythermograph observations.
• Investigating spatial patterns of near-surface ocean heat content using georeferenced profile data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format) ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a continuous 13-month time series (July 1965 to July 1966) for seasonal analysis.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a consistent, high-resolution vertical interval of 5 meters.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• The MBT instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one showing 2026 (likely a metadata refresh) and another showing 1966 (the data collection end date).

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the BULLFINCH cruise and processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1965-07-16 to 1966-07-23

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:48:30.382639

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean