Historical North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from BUTTERNUT

September 12-29, 1956, temperature-depth profiles collected by the BUTTERNUT vessel in the North Pacific Ocean using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT). The dataset comprises pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. It captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean during a specific late-summer period in 1956.
• Studying historical oceanographic conditions by examining temperature values recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Investigating cruise-based spatial and temporal patterns using reported date, position, and time for each observation.
• Calibrating or validating models of upper-ocean thermal layers with in-situ instrument data from a mechanical bathythermograph.

Strengths

• Provides a focused temporal snapshot with a clear 18-day observation period from September 12-29, 1956.
• Data is structured to a known standard (NODC C128 format) with uniform 5-meter depth intervals for consistent analysis.
• Contains core oceanographic variables including cruise information, date, position, time, and paired temperature-depth values.

Limitations

• Limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one platform lists a last updated date of 2026-03 05, while another lists the original data date of 1956-09-29.
• Specific column names, total row count, file size, and license information are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC to its standard C128 format.

Time Range

1956-09-12 to 1956-09-29

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:36:46.610968

Geography

North Pacific Ocean